Can someone please tell me where August went? It went speeding past me so fast, that it was nothing more than a blur. September is threatening to do the same thing; I see it gathering speed each time I glance at the calendar.

Let me catch you up on the activities around here. School started a couple of weeks ago. This is a big year for our family; our oldest started junior high and our youngest started Kindergarten.

Fortunately they have each adapted to their new surroundings and are enjoying the school year. I wish I could say that I am adapting as quickly, but it sure seems quiet during the day with all of the kids at school!

When I am not taking kids to or from school, I have been spending time with this sweet horse, Betty.

She and I have helped gather and wean most of the heifers. Admittedly, she is officially in my husband’s string of horses, but that junior high boy I mentioned earlier keeps stealing my horses!

I have been taking care of the heifers that we weaned. Not a difficult job, mostly requires maintenance of this water trough, making sure they have enough feed in the fields they are in, and keeping them contained in those fields.

Today I am on my way to Denver for a checkoff meeting, specifically an Operating Committee meeting. I have been preparing for a few weeks now and am hopeful that it will be successful. Over the next two days the Operating Committee will hear proposals for checkoff program work in fiscal year 2015. The Committee will decide which proposals to fund based on how well those proposals meet the goals of the beef industry’s Long Range Plan. We will be allocating nearly $40M of producer and importer dollars, so we do not make the funding decisions lightly. It will definitely be an intense couple of days, but I am confident the Committee will make strong decisions and our checkoff work will continue to bring an excellent ROI to all beef producers.