Higher Education

At the Last Stop, Cat Meadow used to be overrun with cactus and that land wasn't very friendly for the cows.

Mom and Dad named it Cat Meadow because that's where Dad rescued these bad boys from a brush fire.

Ashes and Cinder now have lives fit for kings.  And they weigh 50 pounds each.

 

But I digress. 

Cat Meadow was overrun with cactus. 

It really drove Mom crazy. 

Mom happened to be living at the Last Stop by herself at this time.  Dad was working in Colorado.  That didn't stop my mother.  She was tired of looking at the overrun Cat Meadow.

So she got a bright idea.  An idea that took her to the barn and to the big, old Massey Ferguson tractor.

She figured....how hard could it be?  So she found the keys and headed to Cat Meadow and figured out how it all worked.

And with the tractor, a shovel and a wheelbarrow, my mother singe-handedly uprooted hundreds of prickly pear cactus and cleaned up Cat Meadow turning it into beautiful, usable land.

Now the cows are really happy.  They smile a lot more than they used to.

 

And then?  Massey Ferguson University heard of her good work and decided to award her a special diploma.  

Yes, Alice Ann Holliday is now a Doctor of Tractorology.

We're all really proud of Mom and continue to encourage her as she is now going for her second PhD, this time turning in her agricultural pursuits for her more personal interest in Theater Arts.

But that's a story for another time.