I think this world needs a big dose of Yessir happy assurance, like us cowdogs have. It built into our DNA. We earnestly look forward, joyfully expecting a brighter day. Hope springs eternal, I’ve heard them say.
This time of year, optimism is lagging, we are winter-weary and some days it looks like this may be the start of another ice age. At least that is what Mom says, and I can see she’s tired of hauling buckets, feeding hay, shoveling and plowing. The worst she says, although I think it is an adventure, is when we go down through the woods to the creek, and chop open a hole in the ice for the cows to drink. It is bad in early winter, when it is still dark. She says the only good thing about running through the woods in the dark is that she carries a ax!
It is a little scary, but she does it, because the cows depend on it. And while she does it, she hopes for warm weather, when the water stays open, and hopes for longer daylight. And hopes for an early Spring. Sometimes I hear her muttering and she says she prays without ceasing, especially in the hardest of times, because that ignites hope.
What brings hope now
This time of year, mom looks at seed catalogs, colorful magazines that are full of hope. I like the carrot and sweet potato pages the best!
She starts seeds in little flats of dirt, with the hope of new flowers and vegetables to fill the garden. We buy trees, lots of them, with a hope that reaches out far beyond us. I may not live long enough to gather apples beneath this year’s new trees with the little boy Sprout, but I hope that someday, he, his kids, and another scrappy Heeler will. And that is what makes us plant this spring.
We look forward this spring, to planting little trees from the oldest pear tree in this country!
There is hope in: sunshine, longer days, seedlings,melting snow, bare roads and climbing temperatures. Other times, there is hope in rain, or friends, or a job, or the end of a storm. All the promise a new day brings, anytime of the year. 
It is going to sleep at night in peace, with the hope of a new dawn. 
When you need it most
As always, times are real tough for a lot of people right now. There is ice and snow and cold where no one is prepared for it, and they have no heat or water. There is ice on roads where drivers don’t even have snow tires. There are storms and earthquakes and all kinds of tough misery.
Like always there is trouble no one can control.
I know something about that. I have chased cows through mud, snowdrifts, rocks only to have them scatter. I’ve been kicked and rolled down banks, I’ve hurtled through sagebrush and gravel, fallen off four-wheelers …just plain knocked down over and over.
It is hope – and a touch of HELL NO anger – that gets me up and back at it. 
There is someone out there right now that needs hope, and this cowdog is here to tell you to HOLD ON!
A cowdog’s trials are a little different than yours, but it is still the same inner grit that stands you up and makes you soldier on. I want to lend you my grit and hope, if you are a little low right now.
Retirement is fitting this old cowdog . I mostly run things from the porch, and don’t have to chase cows anymore. But I hear I’m getting a young sidekick who will take on those chores. I’ll still ramrod this outfit of course.
Perhaps there is a young pup sitting in a shelter somewhere, hoping for a little freedom, a little ranch, and a job of their own. I think we’re going to make that hope come true, at least for one.
It may be time to hand over the reins, but I still hope for Spring, warm sunshine, and time to watch it all unfold from my porch.
It is still winter –
but I hope for Spring.
