Technology can be tricky

Most of us have mobile phones and most of us have phones we can text. And the majority of us ole cowboys have finally learned how to send and receive pictures.

All of this can be handy as long as you do not text your wife a text that was meant for someone else or worse yet perhaps pictures you did not mean to send your wife. And an easy mistake is when you are texting someone and shortly after you receive a different text so you send the next message to the wrong person or perhaps spell check changes your words for you.

Last week my two youngest sones, age 20 and 21, were hauling cattle. Mark says he needs to go to the bathroom. Well, they had more cattle to haul and Zack thought Mark was piddling. You may not have ever used that word but it means “get your rear in gear.” It may not be the best words to have used but it could have been worse. Zack thought he texted Mark but instead he texted me. The text read, “Hurry up, you hoe.” I immediately started laughing because I knew he meant for Mark to get that text. Immediately he said, “Dad, I didn’t mean to send that to you. I was texting Mark.”

Another rancher said his 16-year-old granddaughter was at home by herself in the country so he simply texted her and said, “Are you OK?” He sent it and never looked at the text but instead the text he sent said, “Are you gay?” The granddaughter never answered as it hurt her feelings but later grandpa found out what the text said after she confided in her mother the question grandpa had asked. So grandpa called and apologized and told her that was not what he meant to say.

If we could get as much rain as we have gotten wind, we would be under water. I am definitely a Christian and probably those that work around me would say not a very good one. But if you can sort cattle in the wind by yourself with sand slapping you upside your head and with your head cocked sideways in order to keep your hat on and then the wind blowing your gate shut and the cattle went the direction. If you can do that without cussing then I would have to say, “Now there is a good Christian.” Then I hear these city folk say, “Wow, that wind is terrible.” And then I want to say, “Well, I feel so sorry for you having to mess with that wind from your car to your office.”

On Tuesday, a 2-year-old nice black pair brought $1,950.

Editor’s note: The views expressed here are the author’s own and do not represent the view of High Plains Journal. Jerry Nine, Woodward, Oklahoma, is a lifetime cattleman who grew up on his family’s ranch near Slapout, Oklahoma.