We worked cattle earlier this week. Here's the truth about that.
I like to imagine waking up before dawn to work cattle looking like this.
But in reality it felt like this...
For those without first hand experience of working cattle, it is nothing like the romanticized ideal that we see in movies or read in heaving bosom books. At least not in my twenty seven years of experience.
For me it always involves swearing, a lot of it. Somebodyalmost always ends up crying. Me.
There is yelling and dust and dirt and tension. You can cut the tension with a knife. There are moments where you hold your breath, and you pray to God very sincerely that the cattle just do as they are suppose to the. first. time.
Then they do! And you inwardly do a happy dance, thank you Lord Jesus dance.
Then the next moment comes and again you hold your breath and pray fervently.
This continues for the rest of the day until the last calf is loaded and the gates to the pasture closed tight.
This is how working cattle is for me. Born and raised on a working farm/ranch, I never took to being a cowgirl. I am much more comfortable in stilettos than cowboy boots. But alas, I married a rancher and spend more time in those boots than I would like. But it pays the bills and it is a family oriented way of life, so I suck it up and I do it when I have to.
I would much prefer to be the one who bakes and cooks and serves the food following the dirty, dusty, potty mouth filled work. And most of the time I am. Every so often though, I am asked to help inside the cattle pens. That's when I cry.
I am a self professed weenie when it comes to working cattle. I have often told the hubby I would rather be in a cage with lions than cows. Which given the unlikelihood of ever having to prove up on, I'm sticking to it.
I found the irony in the long day we spent working cattle, because that evening I came home and sat down to watch my recorded cooking show of a certain woman whom is married to a rancher and just happened to be working cattle on her show as well. I couldn't help but wonder how her version of a day working cattle could be so drastically different than mine.
Then I remembered that I am not on a tv show. There is dirt, there are tears, there are words that would never make it onto the Food Network, but it is the wonderful, crazy, beautiful life that I have chosen. And most days I wouldn't have it any other way.
How about you, have you ever seen your day mirrored on a TV show, but looked very different? I'd love to hear from you!
First photo- http://www.flickr.com/photos/38342436@N04/5001728773/
Second photo- http://hellogiggles.com/everything-i-need-to-know-i-learned-from-home-alone
I like to imagine waking up before dawn to work cattle looking like this.
But in reality it felt like this...
For those without first hand experience of working cattle, it is nothing like the romanticized ideal that we see in movies or read in heaving bosom books. At least not in my twenty seven years of experience.
For me it always involves swearing, a lot of it. Somebody
There is yelling and dust and dirt and tension. You can cut the tension with a knife. There are moments where you hold your breath, and you pray to God very sincerely that the cattle just do as they are suppose to the. first. time.
Then they do! And you inwardly do a happy dance, thank you Lord Jesus dance.
Then the next moment comes and again you hold your breath and pray fervently.
This continues for the rest of the day until the last calf is loaded and the gates to the pasture closed tight.
This is how working cattle is for me. Born and raised on a working farm/ranch, I never took to being a cowgirl. I am much more comfortable in stilettos than cowboy boots. But alas, I married a rancher and spend more time in those boots than I would like. But it pays the bills and it is a family oriented way of life, so I suck it up and I do it when I have to.
I would much prefer to be the one who bakes and cooks and serves the food following the dirty, dusty, potty mouth filled work. And most of the time I am. Every so often though, I am asked to help inside the cattle pens. That's when I cry.
I am a self professed weenie when it comes to working cattle. I have often told the hubby I would rather be in a cage with lions than cows. Which given the unlikelihood of ever having to prove up on, I'm sticking to it.
I found the irony in the long day we spent working cattle, because that evening I came home and sat down to watch my recorded cooking show of a certain woman whom is married to a rancher and just happened to be working cattle on her show as well. I couldn't help but wonder how her version of a day working cattle could be so drastically different than mine.
Then I remembered that I am not on a tv show. There is dirt, there are tears, there are words that would never make it onto the Food Network, but it is the wonderful, crazy, beautiful life that I have chosen. And most days I wouldn't have it any other way.
How about you, have you ever seen your day mirrored on a TV show, but looked very different? I'd love to hear from you!
First photo- http://www.flickr.com/photos/38342436@N04/5001728773/
Second photo- http://hellogiggles.com/everything-i-need-to-know-i-learned-from-home-alone
Posted with Blogsy
Comments
Post a Comment