Well I am literally blowing dust of my blog as I write this today. I know it’s almost been a year since I posted last but life has just been full of wonderful events that have prevented me from taking a moment to sit down and write..I promise to do better in the future! I have had a thought rolling around in my head all week and I finally said hey, that would be a great thing to write about. So here it goes…For me living on a farm, raising livestock and all the crazy things that go along with it have been a way of life. I talk about it so matter of factually, always have, always will because I love to agvocate agriculture, but as I have gotten older and held jobs with those not from an agriculture background I realize how different my “normal” is to everyone else. And sometimes I just wonder if people leave a conversation with me and automatically think, WOW, THAT GIRL IS A WEIRDO!
For example, at the age of 5 I matter of factually explained to my entire class how a c-section on a cow works because the night before I had sat on the showbox at 10 pm and watched the whole thing from start to finish and the only time I spoke was to ask if the calf was alive. Because at age 5, the blood and everything that was going on didn’t bother me and it was normal to see babies born. Luckily, my kindergarten teacher’s family had cattle so she didn’t completely freak out but I remember a talk from my parents afterwards about how I don’t need to share everything I see at the farm. WEIRDO!
Flash forward to middle school and high school when I quit playing sports because I wanted to show cattle. Or when I broke up with all of my boyfriends over the summer because I didn’t have time for them in the summer. I didn’t have time to go on vacations with their family, or just layout by the pool, or be lazy and sleep till 10 all day. Several of them didn’t believe me when I said I will be lucky to sleep in my own bed 20 days the whole summer break. No, I couldn’t hang out with and no I didn’t get a day off when I was home. I had responsibilities and they all revolved around my show cattle. “You have to give your cows a bath every day twice a day?!?!?!? YES….WEIRDO!
In college I was fortunate to endure dorm life and sorority life with a fellow Shorthorn girl who at the time was serving as the National Lassie Queen. I can remember several “agriculture learning moments” taking place in our room and in the Delta Zeta kitchen. “You guys are going where, to do WHAT?” I am sure when she was rocking her Lassie Plaid and I was covered in glue, paint and cow shit when we returned in the wee hours of the night several muttered under their breath…WEIRDOs.
And since graduating college my weirdo status has followed me around. I can vividly remember the reaction of my former employer when I was watching a calf being born on the barn cams on the app on my phone and telling her that cows eat their afterbirth…HAHA..I still laugh at her reaction today! People are blown away when I tell them about what my weekend job is and how much harder my weekend job is than my real job! The hubby and I load up every Friday night and head to Adcock Land and Livestock or Moore Shorthorns, where the weekend list are long and the hours in the day seem short. It’s not a social gathering, its a there is too much to do and not enough people to do it. Since both of our families have livestock and grain farm vacations are slim to none and something always needs to be done. I am sure I get weird stares when I take random one or two day vacations and still have glue or paint on my fingers when I return the next day, or when I am checking the barn camera all day watching for babies, or when I show off new babies from the barn cam, or when I watch a show online during the work day. The list goes on and on….but you know what, call me Weirdo all you want, because I love my weirdo life. I love not being normal!
Yes, it is hard work and yes my family doesn’t get to go on week long vacations out of the country on the beach, but what we are doing we are doing as a family. The long hours we put in we do together and when we have success we all get to share in that success because we all had some part to play in it. The last few winters have been long and dad has said to me several times “sometimes I wonder what it would be like if we didn’t have livestock…I could be on a beach right now you know.” My reply is always the same ” Dad you love the livestock you wouldn’t be happy without them…and you sunburn way to easy to lay on the beach!”
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Emily Adcock Photography & Design 