I baled hay well into the night when the conditions were finally right and I still had windrows of hay needing to be wrapped up for next winter. I got home and my oldest son met me with a downright sad look and said, “So I guess we won’t be camping tonight.” Call it a […] Read more
Stories by Ryan Taylor
Chiropractor gets kink out of cowboy
I’m not someone who runs to the doctor without a darn good reason. I don’t know if it’s cowboy stoicism, frugality, fear, stubbornness or the distance to the doctor, but I usually just stay put and tough it out. It’s not a recommended attitude given the importance of preventive care, I know. However, I do […] Read more
Data lost in the mud
Anything smaller than a sledgehammer or lighter than a house jack has probably been lost at least once on this place. I might have even lost the sledgehammer once, but the grass was tall that year. So it makes you wonder why I’d trust myself with something as small as a calving book that has […] Read more
Puddle problems: looking for some sunshine in soaked North Dakota
As they say, timing has a lot to do with the success of a rain dance. Around here, you so much as tap your toe to the beat of the music and it will rain. And, if you don’t dance, it’ll still rain. In Texas, they can’t even find a cloud to wring a raindrop […] Read more
Roughing it in the back yard
There isn’t much of me that doesn’t ache right now. That’s because I just peeled myself out of a tent where I slept with my nephew and my two boys last night. My wife asked if I was going to blow up an air mattress for our grand backyard adventure. I told her heck no, […] Read more
Planting posts: tough digging makes for easy pounding
The only job where a common fella gets to start at the top is digging postholes, I’ve heard. I’ve had the fortune, good or bad, of starting at the top of a lot of those jobs. I always took three things with me: my Ph. D. (post hole digger), a spade and a tamping stick. […] Read more
Colour the Easter eggs or risk losing them in spring snow
The northern prairie region is one of those special places where you can hide your Easter eggs in a snow bank, even when Easter falls towards the end of April. Maybe the idea of colouring Easter eggs came from a country with spring snowstorms, since brightly dyed eggs were easier to spot than white eggs […] Read more
Hah, hah, hee: Birth breathing is no laughing matter – Cowboy Logic
Last year, marriage proved to be both a good move for me personally and a good source of column material for me professionally. This year, I’m on the cusp of another life changing event: fatherhood. I expect it, too, will be both a good move and a good source of column material. As a matter […] Read more
Early starts: getting a jump on the season – Cowboy Logic
I’m not usually one to get a head start on things, but once in a while I break out of the blocks and get out ahead of the pack. Winter decided to get a little head start here in North Dakota. We got our first snow, a five incher, on Oct. 29. Although we’d just […] Read more
COWBOY LOGIC
Building up the order everywhere you go There are places where you expect to get harassed for the extra sale, and places where you don’t. Going through the fast food drive-through, I expect the pre-programmed high school kid to hit me up for the side order of spuds. “Would you like fries with that?” they […] Read more
