Branding Time is Here Again

Cows and calves bawl.
Mud gets on our boots.
Smoke rises into the sky.
Friends laugh and chatter.
It's hot work, pushing the calves in to the chute to the branding table.
But it's fun.
And it's every year.
And we have haystacks to eat after it every year.
Branding.
That's just it.

chicks

cheep cheep
the sounds
of a flock
of baby chicks
are all around me.
have you ever
held
a baby chick?
they are
fuzzy
and cute
and yellow
and
cheeping
little
cute birds.
it sounds
like I
have a flock
of chicks
in my
basement.
(well I do)
cheep cheep