We have had quite a winter here in Ryegate, Montana.  Lots of challenges for producers of livestock.  I think we broke the record for most snow on record.

This song has been a favorite of mine for a long time and it just fits, as we had another wet snow this week, and I think it may be springtime finally.  Mother Nature sure is something.

I could of chose a real cowboy ethics song or “Honesty” by Billy Joel  to go with the discussions of the past week but I think we’ve had enough of that for a while.  You can dwell on that stuff and make a big deal out of it and it will get you down, or you can get over it by listening to a good song.

Music can do lots of things for us.  For me, It’s the whole package that gives me a little endorphin release that gives me pleasure, sort of like a horse cribbin or Pickens your nose, it just makes you feel good.

I really enjoy Junior Brown.  I like his voice and how he hangs onto words and then gets real deep with it,  the way he dresses, how he honors tradition, and his music playing talent.

Wife Tammy and I spent some time with a real nice young man this week in Big Timber, Montana and he had worked for the Montana Highway Patrol in the past and when we lived in Big Timber during the filming of the “Horse Wisperer” Tammy got a ticket for not obeying traffic law, so I think this is a great song for the Saturday Music.

A little follow up to “Be honest with yourself”.

I didn’t know it but the fellow I made the deal with read my scoop loop. He replied to me in an email, and it ended up being a real positive experience for me, and hopefully him.

Here’s what happens sometimes. We lose control of things, and other people make decisions that may not know all the details, and then the original deal is not met. While this explains why it happens, it still does not mean a promise was not made and broken. This may be what the term growing pains in business is part of.

When we purchased our place we are on from Fred Cougill, he gave us some things. The one I really liked was a flat bottom aluminum canoe, as we live on the Musselshell river, it would have been great to float the shallow river.

Through circumstances when it came time to move all Fred’s possessions off, he was in Arizona (He’s almost 90)and his daughters and there husbands came and moved his belongings to Oregon where they lived. I was gone, they new nothing of the deal, so they did what they were supposed to do and moved the canoe. Just circumstances that created a result, that was not the end of the world, and I probably would have never used it anyway. An honest set of circumstances that created an outcome.

The problem I have with the deal I wrote about is it’s either ego based, on account of me doing some things with a competitor or a lack of management skills. When we made the deal there was never an exclusive or any other stipulations. I would preform stockmanship demonstrations, that was it.

The man I made the deal with was strait up and apologized and didn’t make excuses. I appreciate that. Here is a little piece of what he wrote.

“This has helped me to review myself and I humbly trust I have learned something to improve the way I do business”

I really believe this has been a good experience for me, and I am glad I got the email that set it all off, or I would not of said anything and held a resentment. I think it has been a good experience for the other party as they seemed to have benefited from it as well.

Being honest is not easy, we must work on it, and help others work on it.