b'Western Wear for the WholeFamily Cowboy WisdomTHE CARDINALBy Pete FloresTexas rancher, passing on Cowboy wisdom and serving the Lord.Ilove windmills. They provide living water for cattle in our part of the state. We do not have creeks or man-made ponds on the ranch. I like checking windmills. I make sure that water is flowing well from the main storage cistern to the water trough where cattle drink and I check for leaks on the pipes. It is important to have a good source of stored water, so I also assess the water flow from the windmill to the storage cistern. This is a very satisfying job and I enjoy hearing the windmills turn and the rods making their typical sound as they move up and down on the pipe. At times, I get lost in thought as I inspect the windmills. Stop to think about this, the windmill needs wind to turn to produce the living water. Sometimes I think that we should be like the wind.One day as I was checking the windmills and storage cisterns I looked into the big cistern and found a cardinal inside. She was alive. She had bitten into some settlement on the side of the cistern and was holding on for dear life. Her head was above water but her body was fully submerged. With wet feathers, there was no way she was going to be able to fly out. I looked at the cardinal and wondered how long she had been holding on to that little piece of settlement to stay alive. I took a picture and in that picture you can see that she is determined to survive by the look in her eyes. I moved to the side where the cardinal was hanging on, slowly ran my hand under the cardinal, and started to pick her out of the water. She let go of the piece of settlement and just lay on my hand. I found a shady place and placed her there so she could dry off and fly away. She unfolded her wings, flapped them a few times, and then sat there to dry off and rest. I went on checking my windmill and after about thirty minutes I came back to check on the cardinal. She was gone. Apparently, she dried off, regained her strength, and flew away.How many times in life do we feel we are just hanging on?Have faith that the Lords hand will gently reach down and help us survive, just like I helped the Wrangler, Roper, Stetson, and More cardinal. Our faith is our weapon against the challenges of life. WE ALSO CARRY Pendleton Blankets and Vogt Silver623-396-5678 70 E. Apache StreetHistoric DowntownWickenburg, AZ 8539012 September 2023'