Making Sure We Can Identify Our Cat

Right now the kidlets and I are in North Dakota visiting family for part of our spring break from school.  Today we went to have lunch in the cafe in Pettibone with Grandpa Ron.  There is a brand new, sparkly cafe in town, just built, and we were excited to check it out.  My favorite part was that all of the wooden table tops had the brands of all of the local ranchers burned into the wood along with their names.  Although I grew up in the middle of all those ranches, I only knew what our own brand looks like.  It was really fun to see all the different brands and think of the farmers.   I loved it.

It was also a fun discussion topic for the kidlets, who hadn’t really ever been exposed to brands and how and why they were used.

Mr. TOF:  If I had a cow, what would my brand look like?

Me:  What would you like it to look like?

Mr. TOF:  I like Grandpa’s brand.

Me:  If you ever get a cow, maybe you can borrow Grandpa’s brand.

Mr. TOF:  Hmm.  It would be hard to have a cow at my house.  But I DO have a CAT!

Never mind the fact that the brand is probably bigger than the entire cat.