Sometimes you have a column due and absolutely no ideas to write about. That’s when a lot of random thoughts with no continuity might have to do. It’s good to have a passion for something, even if it is team roping. Being interested in something enriches it for you. My Grandfather was interested in a lot of things and knowledge was one of them. Driving around the countryside one day he pointed to a herd of cattle in a field as we were going by. He asked me what I saw in the field. My response was “cows”. That’s it? he replied. That’s all you see? He seemed disappointed. Can you expand on that a little and tell me all you know about those cows he went on. Black ones was all I could come up with. His look bordered on disgust. I went on the defensive and asked what he saw. He began. For one thing, I see no cows, that is a herd of steers. They are Angus that originated in Aberdeen Scotland and they are primarily a beef breed so you know that place isn’t a dairy. If they had red bodies and white faces they would probably be Herefords that originated in Herefordshire England, if they were all white probably Charolais that came from France. All of those are beef breeds. Now if you see a herd of black and white cows with big bags they are probably Holsteins and they are dairy cattle. You want to stay away from girls that have Holsteins. Why don’t you want to be around girls that have Holsteins you ask? Well that means they own a dairy and a dairy is nothing but work milking cows twice a day seven days a week and 365 days a year. You never get time off and if you hang around with a dairy girl you could end up married to her and ruining your life. Grandpa had never steered me wrong and later when girls became somewhat interesting I remembered his advice and avoided Holsteins, Jerseys, Guernsey’s and Portuguese girls.

Back to having a passion for something. Over the years my passions have changed. At one time playing softball was at the top of the list. This waned when gambling in the form of team roping took over. The two things both had in common was they were mostly summer time events and summertime is when you drink a lot of beer. Softball required much less of an investment. A glove and uniform. Team roping required a horse, trailer, pickup, credit card and an ability to lie to your wife about entry fees and winnings. Wives can be passion and joy killers in a lot of ways if encumbered with too much information. A job can also take your good time out in the forest and kill it. Jobs also are a great inconvenience in that they take up a large amount of your time and are usually boring. I never needed a job, I just needed the money. I watched an interview with Drew Carey who has made a lot of money in Hollywood. The interviewer asked Drew if making millions had brought him happiness. Drew answered that it doesn’t matter how much money you have, nothing makes you happier and is more rewarding than sitting around and having a few beers with your friends. I agree but would like to try having a lot of money for a while. I think lots of money does provide a lot more choices.

Another random thought popped up the other day. I was reading where several candidates are in favor of giving descendents of slaves reparations. It seems to me they should have thought of that while there were still some living slaves. A few years ago congress gave reparations to Japanese who had been placed in concentration camps during WWII. My thoughts were that though it was wrong to place them in camps, they were treated well. My thoughts contrasted that with my uncles who barely survived the Bataan Death march and spent 42 months in a Japanese POW camp. They were fed garbage and not enough of it. They were beaten regularly and forced to work in a Zinc mine 12 hours a day. If they were sick and couldn’t work their inadequate food ration was halved. They suffered terribly. When they were finally liberated they came home and went to work and didn’t bitch. Our government and the Japanese government have never offered reparations to them. Government needs to take a look at their priorities.

I think the best thing we could do for all the people stacked up on our borders would be to help them straighten out their home country so they want to live there instead of here. In the mean time they should stay there in Canada.