Micro, Miles, and Mercy

**What follows is completely my opinion.** Today, did I do the right thing? This question is written on a sticky note on my bathroom mirror.   It is a simple reminder to myself that in life it doesn’t really matter how I feel, nor does it matter what happens, the only thing that matters is my response.   In fact, my response is completely my responsibility and the only thing in life I ever truly have control over. This is a concept that is important to apply to several areas of our lives, but I would venture to say that, as an Agriculturist, this concept should always be applied when dealing with animals. As I am sure you are all aware, I was raised on a cattle ranch.   Our ranch sits in a very traditional ranching area.   Folks around our parts (ha! I just wanted to say that) have been doing things a certain way for a very long time.   One of the first lessons I learned in my youth was that, as a rancher, I am responsible for the lives and well b...

I don’t know if anyone else is like me, but I love refrigerator magnets!   Ok, it is not the magnet itself that I am so in love with but the things I can hang on my fridge with the use of the magnet.    My refrigerator is like a mosaic of my life, and it is so danged beautiful! I really love the people in my life, like really LOVE them.   Unfortunately, during this season of my life I am forced to be away from some of those who are nearest to my heart.   This can become very taxing on me.   W hat I have learned to do, in order to feel close to those important to me, is to surround myself by their love.   I may not be able to see them every day but I hold on to cards, pictures, notes, and other small things that remind me of my loved ones.   My refrigerator has become one of my major catch alls, to the point of being ridiculous.   Last night I accidently knocked a whole bunch of magnets off of my fridge (after closing it with gust...

I am a rancher’s daughter.   Yep, born and raised on a cattle ranch in northern Nevada.   My family has been living and ranching in the same area for over a hundred years.   So, I guess you could say ranching is in my blood.   I went on my first horseback ride when I was about one, I have grown up participating in the many activities that are part of making a ranch operate, and I have attended rodeos/cuttings/horse shows for most of my life.    I am very proud of my heritage and I love that I grew up the way that I did, but sometimes I have felt in my life that I don’t quite fit the mold.  As many of you in the ranching subculture may know there seems to be certain qualities that make up a "rancher’s daughter" and to be honest I don’t really have very many of them.    Yes, I know it; this is a time of true confessions of a rancher’s daughter: 1)    I can’t rope.   Ok, let me be clear, I don’t want to rope.   I am ca...

Today I am chilling.   Yes, you heard me, chilling.   I woke up this morning and for the first time since I started my PhD I didn’t have the anxiety of qualifying exams hanging over me.     A very strange sensation, because it seems like for the last three years I have been walking around with this worry right at the back of my mind.   It has in many ways been an Omni present worry. Now, it isn’t the exams that are so much a worry, it is the fear of what those exams may tell you about yourself.   When you attempt something like a PhD I think there is always a little bit of you that believes that there is no way you will ever actually be capable of being a PhD.   For example, when I think about the PhDs in my life I think about how much I respect them, how much I am constantly learning from them, and how capable they always seem.   I guess it is just hard for me to ever picture myself being that way.   Just prior to my oral ...