Country Lifestyles
Steer Roper Jarrett Blessing
By Dani Blackburn
How does one balance the steer roping lifestyle that takes you across the United States in pursuit of earning a spot at the National Finals Steer Roping with a family and full-time teaching career? According to Jarrett Blessing, it takes careful planning, hard work and the help of family and friends. From early-morning school bells to late night practice sessions alongside his two children, with a few quick plane rides to rodeos across the country thrown in between, this steer roper proves you really can have it all.
Blessing was born and raised in Paradise, Texas, where he attended school from kindergarten through graduation. He was one of two children born to Tommy and Glenda Blessing, both teachers. Tommy began his teaching career at Boyd and would wrap it up at Bridgeport after almost 30 years, while his mom taught in Bridgeport 24 years. Their son would eventually follow in their footsteps, but first he found a love for roping.
Steer Roper
“My grandma said I always roped her banana plants. It would knock them off and make her mad,” Blessing laughed. “I guess I was always swinging ropes. My dad roped, and that’s really what we did at night. He worked all the time, then we would rope.”
Blessing also witnessed his dad train steer roping horses, and later, the pair would train horses together.
By Nicholas Waters
As winter plods along – come Spring and gopher mounds – homeowners and farmers find themselves playing a familiar song – fiddling while Rome is burning.
Let’s make a mountain out of a molehill. Those mounds on your lawn and pasture could be moles, but they’re more than likely gophers; Plains Pocket Gophers to be pragmatic – Geomys bursarius to be scientific.
These rodents dig and chew, and the damage they can do goes beyond the mounds we mow over. Iowa State University cited a study in Nebraska showing a 35 percent loss in irrigated alfalfa fields due to the presence of pocket gophers; the number jumped to 46 percent in decreased production of non-irrigated alfalfa fields.
The internet is replete with academic research from coast-to-coast on how to curtail gopher populations, or at least control them. Kansas State University – then called Kansas State Agricultural College – also published a book [Bulletin 152] in February 1908 focused exclusively on the pocket gopher.
To read more, pick up a copy of the April issue of NTFR magazine. To subscribe by mail, call 940-872-5922.
By Annette Bridges
Everyone needs a room with a view that makes their heart happy. My honest favorite panorama would be either the mountains or the ocean. I have yet to convince my hubby to make permanent moves to either, although he does enjoy the visits as much as I do.
The location of our house on our ranch does not provide the expansive field of vision of our land that I would enjoy. So, I have created a room decorated and furnished in a way that gives me smiles, giggles, and a wonderful peace-filled feeling when I am hanging out in it. I am in that place right now writing this column. I am in a lounging position with my computer in my lap on the chaise that was once my sweet mama’s. I had it reupholstered this year to give it a fresh look.
To read more, pick up a copy of the April issue of NTFR magazine. To subscribe by mail, call 940-872-5922.
Local celebrity dancers of the greater Gainesville area brought the house down recently at the second annual “Dancing With Our Stars” contest in Lindsay. The event raised more than $200,000 as the sponsored dance teams did their best to take home the grand prize.
The money raised will go to the “Heart of NTMC” Campaign for the purchase of a cardiac capable CT machine for the Gainesville hospital. Rodolfo “Rudy” Martinez and Sherry Sherriden took home the Mirror Ball Trophy.
To read more, pick up a copy of the April issue of NTFR magazine. To subscribe by mail, call 940-872-5922.
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