Eating Pie & Dreaming of Bacon

Remember when I told you about the 

"Spoken Lesson From the Farmer:  There's No Burnin' Daylight"?

Well, today I met that challenge and rose before the sun.  

I finally answered "yes" to my farmer husband's question he asks me a few times each fall, 

"you want to get up with me and take cattle to the butcher?"

I decided that since I don't see him that often during harvest, I should probably go with him......at least once.  So with wet hair and camera in hand, I put my boots on and off we went to load up the trailer.

Our cattle are pretty calm and collected.  They don't fuss much and are usually pretty nice.  

So Brett just opened up the gate....

....and after giving me a few dirty looks, they went right onto the trailer. 

 That didn't take long so I kind of just stood there, in the barn under the stars and looked around.  

I noticed the hayloft, which was decorated with licenses plates from various trucks and tractors from the farm.  I thought of the miles and miles of roads and fields those plates had seen.

And then I noticed this old toy sitting on a stack of bricks in the barn.  Who knows the last time this was touched, but I bet it has seen the hands of three generations by now and will wait for the next.  

When we got to the butcher, I hopped out of the truck and turned to see this on a barn next door.  A sign that we were in the Heartland and in the Hoosier State.  And something every young kid should have and experience, a barnyard basketball goal.

The boys unloaded the cattle, caught up on some butcher talk as I tried to stand in the background.  

I am sure the flash on my camera wasn't noticed at all......

I thought, though, this young man is a part of the agriculture process too--helping farmers with their livestock and butchering in a clean and safe way to provide food on our tables.  I mean the bacon he has to provide for just our family is quite remarkable!  Ha!

But I bet he has played in a hayloft and with an old toy and some games barnyard basketball.

I felt grateful for him, and for the cattle that provide for our family and so many others.  

And then I realized that it was only 7:00 a.m. and that I would probably crash in a few hours.  So when I got home, I decided a sugar high was necessary and that I would eat some of that pie that I made on Monday night.  

While I ate my pie I watched the sun rise and shine through the fog.  I dreamt of some barnyard basketball and bacon, like a good Hoosier farm girl who decided "there's no burnin' daylight" today.