12/20/07 Small delays

Sometimes little things add up to  I don't believe it. I'm Jeff Keane; I'll be right back with the story. The day before we shipped our calves this year, only my nephew was available to help gather the cattle. I thought we did a good job, but came in that evening three calves short. It only took a little time the next morning for my brother and me to make a quick pickup tour of the wheat stubble fields to find the three calves. I saddled my horse and went after the calves while my brother had a post-surgery knee checkup. As I got close to the corrals, I called my nephew who was studying for an exam and told him I was ready to sort calves. He said he would have been there but a cat had been in the pickup motor, had gotten caught in the serpentine belt, and twisted it around the alternator. The cat? It was fine, just ended up only packing eight lives around. Luckily, my brother got home, unwound the belt and got to the corral with only a little more time lost. A small problem was encountered while sorting the calves in the form of a young border collie that was not having one of her better listening days. Shipping day was not a training day so the young dog was put in the pickup. One trailer was loaded, pulled out and when he went to get the next pickup and trailer my nephew was greeted with a smiling border collie and locked pickup doors. How can anything that cute be so revengeful? My brother's extra key was not where it was suppose to be so he had to make a quick trip home for another extra key. That key was there and we finally got the calves loaded, hauled and weighed. Thank goodness the minor time losses weren't major ones. I'm Jeff Keane.