How can you tell if someone is listening to you? I mean truly paying attention and comprehending the words you are saying? Being present has become a profound topic because we seem to come up with more distractions all the time.

I had never worked on a diesel engine before. It was about 1969 and I was working for Charles Warnick at Pleasant Grove, Utah, while going to college. One morning, he asked me to grab my toolbox and drive over and help a neighbor.

Most of us have some piece of machinery we have held on to … sometimes too long. The reasons can be varied: It belonged to Grandpa; it is a collector’s item (if only to you) – or probably the No. 1 reason: It is too expensive to replace it.

One reason why forage-livestock production is challenging is that the value of forage is surprisingly dynamic. Forage value increases when forage growth is limited by weather, when alternative feeds are expensive or when pastures on a farm are stocked too heavily.

I’m certain that I will never be accused of being a techno-wizard, but I feel like I’ve made a valiant effort to at least remain in the same solar system as the world becomes, at once, ever smaller and more complicated every day.