True Life

My Hometown is a Tourist Trap.

We're talking fanny packs, cheap souvenir cowboy hats, the whole nine yards.

Hurricane Mills, Tennessee's claim to fame is "Home of the Coalminer's Daughter, Loretta Lynn". For those of you who may not recognize the name (don't be ashamed, you are in the growing majority), does "You be my little Loretta, I'll be your Conway Twitty," ring a bell? That's her! Our hometown sweetheart!

Loretta's "Dude Ranch" sprawls across most of the acreage of our tiny little town and includes a campground, trail rides, Souvenir Shop, recording studio, museum, replica of her old Kentucky home, haunted plantation home, snack stand, and dirt bike track that brings in over 200,000 people every August for the World Championship Amateur Motocross Race, or something along those lines.

Now I don't hold anything against Loretta. She is responsible for bringing in a huge part of the taxes that make our county budget work every year. But that's not to say I don't get tired of stopping in the middle of the road everyday on the way to town to let little old ladies who remember Loretta in her prime cross the street to the Museum.

The Coalminer's Farmer's Daughter,
JanLee

Puppies 4 Sale

Growing up on a farm where the motto has always been, "We raise kids and cows, in that order," having dogs was never a matter of if or when, but rather "How many?" There are four kids, thus, four female dogs (we gotta have puppies!) I am the proud owner of a not so mild mannered Pembroke Welsh Corgi with a Alpha Dog attitude and a chip on her shoulder, Kit. Hannah's dog, Cricket, is an 11 year old Pug with a sweetest disposition, a habit of overeating, and a bad case of halitosis. Lawson has a timid Blue Heeler, Chesse ("Casey") who is very much the follower of the group and Beau's dog is a black and brindle Catahoula who thinks she is a Maltese named Ellie Mae.

Yeah. The variety pack.

Cricket was spayed a few years ago due to an infection that nobody speaks about because it "might hurt her feelings." Kit no longer comes in heat. My guess is that this is due to a lack of hormonal activity (maybe that's why she is such a grouch?). Lawson's dog has not yet reached the age or weight to have any babies. So that leaves Ellie Mae, the Shi Tzu trapped in the Doberman's body, who also happens to be quite *throat clearing*...active.

About 11 weeks and 2 days ago, Ellie gave birth to 6 little bundles of joy. 3/4 Catahoula, 1/4 Black Mouth Cur. Sweet little things. Now, about 11 weeks and 2 days later, the cute little puppy-wuppies are old enough to bark, chew, and chase the beloved show heifers, the only things around here that receive better care than the dogs.

This afternoon, with my blood pressure teetering on the "Heart Attack/Stroke" line, I loaded them all up (minus one that escaped over the tailgate about the time I got the truck into reverse), and hauled them to the house and threw them (not as gently as Sarah McClochlan probably would have appreciated) into the dog pen.

And if you need one, that's where they will be. FREE CATAHOULA PUPPIES! Come one, come all.

Dog Lover Hater,
JanLee

Disclaimer: I really do love dogs, just not the ones that chase and bite our show heifers. If you call the ASPCA, I will gladly give up custody of these ankle biters I captured this afternoon.

#Tweet, #Tweet

A few months ago, I "bit the bullet", so to speak, and created a Twitter account. Always up for some social media, I had checked into the site a year or so ago when it became so popular, but I was overwhelmed with followers and hashtags and trends. I just didn't get it. After finally signing up, fully prepared to never really tweet and just make an attempt to see what all the fuss was about, I was hooked (isn't that the way it always goes?).  It so much faster paced than Facebook and I have learned SO much.

Go get on!! Follow me @janleerowlett and be sure to look up some educational tweeters as well. My recommendations: @AnguaAssoc, @agchat, @USDA, and @blakeshelton. So maybe the last one isn't all that intelectual, but he sure is funny!!

Tweet-Tweet,
JanLee

What It Takes to (Maybe) Win

As the summer show season cranks up, so does the temperature, and so does the WORK. Nobody ever said showing cattle was easy, or that it didn't require a little elbow grease. As the National Junior Angus Show approaches, this is my daily routine:

1. Wake up.
2. Feed.
3. Rinse, Brush, Spray, Brush.
4. Clean pens.
5. Check cows.
6. Water cows.
7. Rinse, Brush, Spray, Brush, Blow.
8. Short Break in the A/C.
9. Clean pens.
10. Feed.
11. Rinse, Brush, Spray, Brush.
12. Turn Out.

And the next day you do it all over again. After weeks and weeks of the "Rinse, Brush, Repeat" routine, its finally time to show, and even then there is nothing even CLOSE to a guarantee that you will be "in the purple". But it doesn't take long to know its so worth it anyway. Bottom line: I love to show cattle, and I always will, and, as my dad says, "The show is won at home, in the hall of the barn, where the water flows, the blower runs, and the work happens."

This past weekend, I watched a dream of my family's come true as my brother's heifer, one which we raised, was named Reserve Champion Bred & Owned Heifer at the Eastern Regional Junior Angus Show.

Thinking Purple Thoughts,
JanLee