I remember back in the day of a commercial that said “Why ask Why”. Everybody needs to ask themselves “Why?” from time to time. Why do I mess with these animals? Why do I spend the money on this stuff? Why in the heck do we do this?
Sometimes, you have a good day and it makes it all worthwhile. It was dark when I got home last night and Duke had a friend over for the night. Duke had taken care of his stock, so I headed out to take care of mine, check water, critters, feed & water. I noticed there was some small square alfalfa bales stacked near a barn. It had a blue care package sitting on top of it. It looks like my buddy Bob had been here to bring some does to meet Rumour. Oh, and I got to read an OSU magazine article written by Kela Kelln.
Tammy and I had to take some crap to my sister-in-law at Shattuck. We dropped it off and ordered a pizza from the Hut. While at the drive in, I conned the lady to get me a Pizza Hut hat. This is a habit that I developed from watching Ritsun Urban years ago. He always got free stuff from every place he went. Big Bill has the same habit. Rumour Has It that he has three hut hats. But he doesn’t have a 2013 model–serial #1.
We actually didn’t have to go anywhere today which is wierd for our family. Tammy and the boys slept in. I watched three Law & Order episodes before I headed out. I got chores done and headed to Gage and then Shattuck. I went to look at Britt’s pigs and Tyke’s baby goats because I knew that nobody was around to cloud my judgement. This was the same way I like to look at projects when I was teaching. Schoovy called and gave me some orders of what I needed to get done tomorrow. I stopped in and checked on my parents, permanetly borrowed some stuff and then came home.
Duke and Braylen came to the barn to work with animals. Then we cleaned pens, did some metal work, added some features to the gator and spread crap. A member of the Kartel showed up bearing gifts–some hay that he wanted me to try. Brandon, Tammy and I stood in the barn, out of the wind, for an hour or more discussing stock show fund raisers. Dad showed up, looked at his tractor, petted the dog, bitched about OSU basketball getting beat by ou and then left to feed cattle.
It was now 4 pm and I realized that I hadn’t had lunch. So I heated up something that was growing in the back of the fridge. Watched some of the Bronco’s game, then bundled up and headed out into the wind and snow to do evening chores. I came back in and checked email. I was already having a good day, but there was a killer message from a fellow stock show addict in Indiana that I have yet to meet.
He mentioned that he enjoys reading this “useful” blog. He helps his nieces and nephews with their show projects. It was a well written message, but the part that I really enjoyed was the sign off–he used the Paul Harvey “Good Day” and used his full name along with the title of “Indiana Uncle Project”. I love it.
I didn’t accomplish anything of record today–no sales, didn’t win a show, etc. But I had a phenomenal day. These are the kind of days that build a program. Duke worked his animals. I had mine well prepared for crappy weather. And I loved reading that email and talking to the people that I talked to on this day. This is why we do it. It isn’t about raising a great one. It’s about building kids and building a social network. The people that we deal with in the livestock industry are top notch. The news media would never understand it. Other hobby/addictions aren’t the same. We all LOVE our animals (except the does in my case) but we really LOVE the people that we deal with and what it teaches our kids. It doesn’t matter if you are in Texas, Oklahoma, KansAss or Indiana, that is why we do what we do.
The question is WHY? The answer is WHY NOT. If you aren’t a part of it, then you are missing out.
