By Betty Jo Gigot Publisher
As I write this, the news across the world is more than a little depressing. The Israelis are searching tunnels at the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza for kidnapped victims, and Congress is trying to decide how much more money to send to the Ukraine. President Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping are meeting in a suddenly cleaned-up San Fransico, and the governors of Texas and Colorado are calling for special sessions after the recent election, looking for solutions to questions not answered by voters. Who knows what will come out of any of this.
I have to admit, I was amused when a senator from Oklahoma called out a Teamster leader who had been harassing him. It turns out the senator is a former MMA fighter with a professional record of 5-0. He is also an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation. A bit of a mismatch I would believe.
The Denver Gazette saved my day with a cover story about an Irish Jack Russell Terrier named Finney here in Colorado. Finney and her master were hiking in the San Juan Mountains in southern Colorado when they went missing. Searchers spent days looking for the 71-year-old hiker and his dog. “On September 22, after 2,100 hours, including 60 flight hours, using nine dogs and their handlers, five choppers, and 175 flight and ground crews, the search was called off.”
On the day before Halloween, a hunter found the pair. Finney growled at him as she was still protecting her master, who had died of hypothermia in the wilderness. She apparently had survived on chipmunks and insects, and had been drinking from a nearby stream. Losing about half of her weight she, she was proof of the breed’s loyalty. After 72 days in the wilderness, Finney had done her job.
I know that many of us were sad to hear about Dave Nichols’ passing. There are many who had the opportunity to visit the Nichols Farms near Anita, Iowa, turning at the corner by the huge cattle statue into a true showplace. After a cup of coffee and a tour, visitors, no doubt, went to the café in town for hamburgers and onion rings, and one of the most enlightening conversations ever. He will be missed.
In this issue of CALF News, Patti Wilson discusses the financial state of the cattle industry from both national and local prospectives, and Larry Stalcup catches you up on the Paris Climate Accord. We take you to the original home of the chimichanga and down a dirt trail to one of the best steaks in the Texas Panhandle. If you think we are the only cattlemen who are trying to figure out where the cattle are … or aren’t, be sure to read Will Verboven’s “Rumblings From the Great White North” for a reality check. He always says it like it is.
All of us here at CALF News wish you a very Merry Christmas and all the best for 2024. You are appreciated every day.
