Baxter Black

The following excerpts are from the Oklahoma Livestock Committee meeting on Species Relations. Voting members include beef cows, feedlot steers and dairy cows.

The newspaper photo showed them leaning into the harmony like four caroling coyotes. The caption named the pickers and said they were members of a new country singing group. It announced that they would be playing at the Dairy Queen on Thursday.

“By gosh, that’s a new twist,” thought Terry as he tightened his collar against the biting wind and stared at the heifer. She was trying to calve standing up. He eased up on her and dropped a loop over the horns.

I like a pickup that looks like a truck
And not like a tropical fish.
Or a two-ton poodle with running lights
Or a mutant frog on a leash.

I stood with George, ears perked, eyes alert, like border collies waiting for the signal. John (we’ll call him John) finally made his momentous decision known: “We’ll do a C-section. But I want pictures for my scrapbook!”

The little kid sat on his knee
And looked up with stars in his eyes
He said, “Granddaddy, tell me again
How it was when you were my size.”