"These Hooves Are Made For Walkin'...."

I was told we were coming here to FARM.....you know, to GROW things. More specifically, corn. Therefore, you can understand my confusion as many times I find myself wondering, "So, where the heck did all these ANIMALS come from?"

We have a very good friend named Jamie. Jamie is a super cool young guy with a cute family, and is also the town T-Ball coach. SWEET! Jamie is also a real-life "cowboy". I've never seen him wear a cowboy hat, though. When I've seen him driving cattle he has worn a baseball hat, which reminds me of the movie "City Slickers" and gives me a good laugh.

By the way, watching those guys drive cattle is quite a sight. Above the clouds of dust and sea of heads and horns rolling up and down, you see the drivers on horseback. The constant sound of moo-ing and thundering hooves is interrupted by an almost song. "H-ya, cow, h-ya....(whistle)...H-ya!" Beauty....I love it. It's hard to explain in words...It's like poetry all by itself.

I think Ben was a little excited to be involved in "the poetry". We have what's called "Feed Lots" on the farm which were built a few years ago. A feed lot is a place to bring the cattle after they've been grazing on the fields. They're very nice lots and since WE don't have cattle in them at the moment, we share the facilities with other ranchers. One of the purposes of the feed lot is for branding. A few days ago, Jamie and his brothers drove a bunch of calves into the feed lot and asked Ben to help them brand. ("Lovely.")

Jamie explained his great plan to Ben. "Okay, Ben we'll open the gate and let 'em out one at a time. You stand down there, by the stall and as they come towards you, you grab their head and THROW 'EM DOWN." (You need to realize that eventhough I said "calves", these BABY cows weight in at over 350 pounds!)

Okay, here's the deal (this information may have been useful to Jamie)....It's true that Ben played football in high school, BUT he was the QUARTERBACK (the guy trying to AVOID getting hit). His LITTLE BROTHER was the champion wrestler!

"Are You Just Gonna Let Him WALK ALL OVER You...?"

The first calf came running toward the stall and right at Ben, who was standing all wide and ready, like he was going to get tackled by one of the American Gladiators. As the calf started to run by, Ben grabbed its head, and turned it up and around, knocking them BOTH onto the ground. The other boys jumped on top of it and held it down while Jamie branded it. Everone got up, except Ben....he was the LAST to stand up. Even the calf stood up before he did. The calf jumped up and walked over Ben to get away. No, he did not step AROUND Ben, I meant it literally when I said he "walked over Ben to get away". Oh ya, but FIRST it kicked him.

Ben told me the story. As I look back now, I realize that maybe my Studly, Manly, Cow-wrestling husband was looking for sympathy from his sweetheart. I didn't realize this at that moment. Instead, when he told me, I started rolling around laughing and exclaiming, "Well, I'd probably do that too if you held me down and stuck a fire-hot branding iron on MY butt!"

A little insensitive? Yes. And I'm sorry. (I WOULD like to mention that we were BOTH laughing.) I was NOT, however, laughing this morning when he got into the shower and I saw the bruises. "Oh, sweetie!!" (Then I realized the error of my ways and knew for sure that I DO, in fact, have a Studly, Manly, Cow-Wrestling husband.) Just another opportunity to swoon and say, "My Hero!"