"Cav'in"

 A beauty from last year's calf crop

Don't let my title ruin your impression of my spelling abilities, which by the way, won me many spelling contest titles in my old Hermosa Grade School days...just saying. I am fully aware that "cav'in" is actually spelled calving, but when you write it as "calv'in" to emulate how it would actually sound if you said it, it looks too much like Calvin, and I don't know a Calvin, thus I'll spell it Cav'in. Ok? Ok! Now that we have that bit clarified, on with the good stuff.

So I'm going to start a new trend. The next time someone asks me to do something I don't really want to do, I'm going to answer, "Cav'in," or "Sorry, Cav'in", or "nope, Cav'in." For you ranch wives, ranch daughters or just plain ole ranch people out there, you understand exactly what I'm talking about. You've lived in a house where this yearly event occurs and your father, husband, brother, mother, sister, grandpa ect have repeatedly used the phrase "Cav'in" when you asked them if they could go to lunch, go to town, watch the kids, visit a friend, or God forbid, leave the ranch for more than 2 hours. I'm not saying it isn't a completely credible excuse, I'm just saying it gets a little old from time to time. I've learned to deal with it best by being completly capable of going where ever it is I need to go, alone or alone in terms of the only adult, but with two rugrats sitting in the back seat. Ok, Paisley is too innocent to be called a rugrat, so one rugrat and one precious angel who has never talked back to her mother or told me to mind my own business...don't worry, after she saw the look I gave her, she said, "My business, is your business," and flashed me a "I'm so funny," smile, as if she was just trying to get a rise out of me.

Back to my point, the next time my boss asks me to come to her office, I'm going to reply, "cav'in," and see if I get the same  response, I give Jed. Or when Jayda asks me for gum, candy, or chips, maybe "cav'in" will keep her at bay? Best of all, when Jed asks me to pick up some more coffee before I come home, or when he calls me AT work and asks, "Whatcha do'in?" I'll simply reply, "Cav'in....you?!"

I suppose we could change things up through the seasons and try, "Feed'in, Brand'in, & Hay'in," and be thankful I don't have to say, "Farm'in!"