UnCowVentional

A cow drinking from a sprinkler head

UnCowVentional

I live in a desert so in order to keep my outside plants alive it is critical to have an irrigation system to give them water regularly.  People I know in other climates are generally surprised to know that irrigation systems are a needed part of life here.  They’re like all of us.  It’s real easy to get used to what you know and do the same things the other people around you do time and time again.  We all do it!  Sometimes, though, taking a different path can turn a regular life into an extraordinary life!

“Extraordinary! Look out there!” my wife said to me not long ago as we stood in our kitchen.  “That Steer is drinking out of the sprinklers just like our dog!  Have you ever seen a cow do that before?”

“No,” I said, as I looked out toward our South Field.

“He’s been doing it all day.  He’ll get a drink and then walk a little ways away to let the water spray him.”  She continued.

“He’s unconventional, that’s for sure.”  I said.

It reminded me of a conversation with one of my daughters earlier in the week.  She was telling me about her workweek and the amazing people she’d been working with when she made a most illuminating comment.

“When I think back about what I did to get here it’s amazing!” She mused.  “I didn’t know I was supposed to be afraid to venture out on my own, across the continent, and start anew in the greatest city in the world.  Had I known that, I would never have come here to establish my business.  All I knew was that this is where I wanted to be.  I knew it the first time I came here with you!  It’s made all the difference for me!”

She took a path that most others view as unconventional and she’s living with the rewards of such a life.  She loves her work, has built a successful business and is surrounded by some of the world’s most interesting people while she’s paid.  Not bad for a “girl just off the farm.”  She’s discovered: what is unconventional for one person is conventional or can become conventional for another.

My dog has always thought it conventional to drink directly from a hose or a sprinkler.  And, while I’ve never had a cow think so before, now I have one that does!  As a result, on most days, he doesn’t need to walk acre after acre to get a drink from a watering trough.   He simply walks a little bit, puts his mouth down and gets cool, fresh water, conveniently.  Then he lets the water spray him so he can cool the rest of his body.  He lives a great life!

All of us can live a greater life; one full of wonder and success if we’ll simply change things up a bit.  Try something that is conventional for someone else.  Size it up and see if it fits.  If it does, it will make your life just that much better.  Allow yourself to do the UnCowVentional everyday and see if it makes a difference.

Uncovering Personal Growth

“Salty Shores Ranch Vineyard”

Uncovering Personal Growth

I’ve been working outside, though not enough.  Spring always seems to get ahead of me.  I make a vow not to let it happen every year.  It still does.  I don’t know how it did this year.  Winter seemed to go on forever, and ever and was hard on my plants.

I’ve been especially worried about my vineyard and began to look at the vines toward the middle of March.  They looked like dead wood.  “It’s real early.” I consoled myself.  But, I watched them in April and May.  I’ve seen some changes, but not on all of the plants, so a feeling of deep concern has been haunting me for two months now.

During that time there has been lots of growth all around the vines.  How could the grass and other plants be swallowing up my grapes unless they were dead?  I ran this question through my head again and again.  Then one day I decided I needed to try to catch up with the work of spring and uncover the vines I knew were lurking under all that grass.

I began my work with high hopes.  Experience has taught me that new growth on plants is very tender so I chose a gentile reclamation approach for each individual vine; bare hands and manual wool sheers.  I began uncovering one plant and went from vine to vine.

As I pulled and clipped the grass away I began to see small green buds began to soak up sunlight.  Some were beginning to explode into nice broadening leaves!  Sure, there was some dead wood there too.  But, the new growth was there.  I never would have seen it without taking the time to carefully remove the more rapidly growing clutter.

You and I also live in a time of rapidly growing clutter.  There has never been a time like this in our era.  If you’re like me it is sometimes hard to catch your breath, as the world seems to shift and be molded right before our very eyes.  It can be unsettling and discouraging.  Sometimes I feel as if I can’t grow and change fast enough.  Our world seems to be springing ahead of me.  No matter what my good intentions are, it seems as if I can’t get on top of all the change.  That makes it almost impossible to see my own personal growth because I’m focused on all the clutter.

So, join me in taking time each day to do a little personal reclamation.  Before you get out of bed take a few minutes to reflect on what good came into your life the day before.  Make a mental note of it and then say to yourself, “I’m excited to see what good will come into my life today.”  It will begin to transform your life.

It will also make it easier for you to take a few minutes at the beginning of your week to recollect all of the previous week’s good so the calm of gratitude can wash over you.  When you do, you’ll soon recognize your own growth because the insignificant, yet overwhelming, will be sheared away.

Being to uncover your own personal growth today by implementing these two small steps.  I’ll be looking for the small green buds growing behind your ears.

Leakage

“Broken Valves”

Leakage

Sometimes I know things aren’t working right, but I just don’t want to make the effort to make a correction.  It’s what I call leakage.  I was reminded to this principle this spring as I started up the irrigation system at my ranch, Salty Shores Ranch.

I turned the key to have water begin to flow through the pipes a little over one month ago.  Then I began a walking tour of the property and saw what I already knew.  I had at least one leaking pipe.

It had been leaking for the past two years.  But, it was under ground and I didn’t know exactly where it was.  I only knew its general area.  It would be a lot of work to find the leak and then fix it, so I left it alone.

The leak was now quite large and it appeared to be filling valve boxes down the line more than one hundred twenty feet away.  It had the ability to do a lot of damage, so I pulled up my pants, grabbed a shovel, called my dog and began to search the ground for the right spot to dig.

The truth is that it really didn’t take too much effort to find the leak, perhaps fifteen minutes or so.  It took only another fifteen minutes to solve the problem.  The water stopped and I felt good.  That is until a few days later when I noticed that valve boxes continued to be full of water!

Irrigation valves can be difficult to trouble shoot.  They have several moving parts and electricity to make the automatic type turn on and off.  There have been a lot of times when I’ve been stumped on a problem and I usually do everything I can to avoid digging around valves to replace them.  It’s a lot of work.  But, in this case I’d turned a blind eye for a least a couple of years.

When I flipped the switch for my sprinklers to begin their work my eyes could no longer be blind.  The pressure was so low all the heads were not popping up.  It was finally time to solve what ever the problems were.  I went and purchased some new valves.

I arrived back and picked one valve from the box and walked out to dig.  Then I spent several hours installing the new valve and working to figure out why it wasn’t solving the problem.  To make a long story much shorter, I found the new valve to be faulty and replaced it with another one.  This time I installed it in a step-by-step process so I could do my trouble shooting along the way.  In the end, it worked well and I followed the same process to install another one in a much shorter period.  Here’s what I learned about leakage and how you can stop leakage to make sure you’re getting the most out of your life.

Lots of times leakages occur under the surface.  You know that things are not going as well as they could be, but you’re just afraid to dig into it because you either don’t want to take the time or like me, you’re afraid of what you’ll find.  In my case I spent years dealing with issues I could have solved in much less time. Had I dealt with the problems immediately I would have been able to live with more peace of mind and would have done much less work in the long run.

When I finally decided to solve the issues directly I had to do things different than before.  I had to introduce something new to the equation in order to make the most impact.  Still, while it appeared as if the new solution was going to be a good one, it wasn’t!  It took me some time and effort to figure that out.

By the time I figured it out, I have to tell you I was tempted to quit working on the problem and just live the way I’d been living.  But, I didn’t.  I pressed forward and introduced a different solution that worked perfectly.  By that time, I had developed a check list that would allow me to “test” my solution at every step of the way so I could make sure it was a perfect solution before I completed all of the work.  It’s a process I can use over and over again now.

In fact, I used the same process to install another new valve on the same day and the repair took me hours less time to complete.  Now I know I have a great system that will allow me to stop leakage in a reasonable amount of time.

The whole reason I want to stop leakage is so I can get the most out of my efforts in every area of my life.  Right now I’m sitting where I can see sprinkler heads working at full capacity for the first time in years.  My yield will go up and I feel comfortable and relaxed knowing that my efforts have paid off and things are working smoothly and operating as they should.

Life doesn’t always flow smoothly.  We all have leakages.  The first step in having an improved life is to make a decision to cause a change to happen.  Second, select a good solution and make use of it.  At the same time, make sure you develop a systematic approach so you can make sure the solution is the right one for you.  At the point you determine it isn’t working, abandon it and make an adjustment.  When it works, you’ll know.  You’ll be getting full flow, the most you can out of your life in any situation.

Just know that external factors can still make it appear as if you aren’t getting all the flow you need.  I like to call such an event a “head wind.”  Don’t let head winds fool you.  They are always temporary.  When you’ve stopped your leakages you’ll still perform effectively.  You’ll just be hampered a little, or a lot.  But when the wind quits or shifts your momentum will increase.

Knowing this will allow you to live with anticipation and excitement.  Leakages literally drain your life away.  Don’t hesitate to focus on them immediately so you can move forward will the full flow life can offer you.

Finding Satisfaction

“Two thousand pounds”

Finding Satisfaction

I looked across a large field and watched as about two thousand pounds of hair and flesh were pressing against a failing fence.  Funny how that kind of weight can damage even the strongest of barriers over time.  I dropped what I was doing and went to get some tools.

Once I was armed, with what I thought I needed, I walked through the grass to the damaged area.  By the time I got there the offender had moseyed away acting as if he had done nothing at all.  I stood and stared at the mangled wire.  Another two thousand pounder walked up to greet me.

He was standing right in front of me flashing innocent eyes while hoping to be stroked by my hand.  I reached out and obliged him for a moment only.  I had much to do and didn’t have a large fence repair on my schedule.  When I finished petting my friend, I reached out and tugged at the contorted wire.  It was at that moment that I knew the job in front of me was more than I was expecting.  I had to go get and use another tool.

One of the most useful tools I own is a fence stretcher.  It’s like having an additional hand and arm with the strength of “Captain America.”  I use it to grab a single strand of wire and then use the lever to “jack” the wire back into place.  Once the wire is properly aligned, the stretcher holds it until it’s attached.  It makes the impossible, possible.

Still, I was looking at about five hundred feet of repair work that needed to be done.  Now! I was feeling overwhelmed and it caused me to think about doing a short-term fix while forgetting the rest at the time.   But as soon as I started to do the work the gigantic job shrank down to its real size.

I looked down the line of fence posts and remembered a time when they weren’t there.  There was no wire, green grass or cattle.  It was hard, dry unmanaged ground when I purchased it.  I looked all around me and surveyed what I had accomplished over the years.   It was a work of beauty.

I let the beauty of the place wash over me.  I could see it with my eyes.  I felt it under my feet.  I was restoring it with my hands.  I let visions of all the work I’d done over the years rush through my head as the wind in my hair.  The satisfaction was freeing to my mood.

A couple of days later I was talking with one of my daughters whose mood had been dampened by the sheer weight of her responsibilities – her work, family & home.  Her plight reminded me of my seemingly similar mood resulting from two thousand pounds of life pressing down on my fence.  But this was rather the weight of life on her shoulders.  Funny how that kind of weight and damage even the strongest of people over time!

I began to speak with her of all she had accomplished in every area of her life.  We laughed as we spoke of times we’ve shared together, like burning mountains of tumbleweeds, as we accomplished the impossible.  She has created a life of beauty and accomplishment.  Soon our combined satisfaction swelled our hearts with joy and gratitude.

Satisfaction from your accomplishments will do the same for you if you’ll let it rush into your heart.  Take time to review what you’ve accomplished over your lifetime each day.  It will stretch your joy, attach it to your heart and show you that the impossible is possible.