Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway” – John Wayne
This movie line from True Grit is one I have had above my desk for many years. It is one of those things I mumble to myself silently on a regular basis and it has been at the forefront of my mind quite frequently as of late.
A lot of things in life require you to have courage, beginning a new chapter in life, starting a new job, losing an old one, uprooting and moving, life, death and so on. All of us have had changes in life and it requires us to have courage. Courage comes easy to some while for others it must be a conscious effort to continue to push forward courageously.
Courage comes easy for me most times, especially when I am heading out the door to the corral to work cattle with my husband. I am sure he would prefer me to be a little less courageous when it comes to the cattle but that is my comfort zone. Courage is easy when you’re comfortable with your surroundings, not so much when you are unsure or someplace new.
Life threw me a curve a few months ago when it came to my previous job, and I found myself wondering what the heck I was going to do with my life. It was an unsure time, but almost exciting in a way and I found myself thinking about all the things I enjoy in my life. There are things I am interested in, things I have never done and might be interested in and then there are the things I do in life that I really love and enjoy and am the most familiar with.
When Julie reached out to me about the possibility of replacing her at OFN, I was excited about the opportunity and a new adventure. The past 12 years I have been involved not only in agriculture but in the banking industry. Before that, my entire life has been agriculture based. Are my writing skills a bit rusty because I have not been able to utilize that creative skill the past 12 years, most definitely…so please bear with me there.
Julie has left me in good hands and I have hit the ground running at OFN, but I am certainly needing to muster up a bunch of courage and confidence to fill her shoes. I appreciate the fact that she felt I would be a good fit at OFN and she knows I have a big ag background. We have crossed paths several times over the past few years as I am usually seen on weekends with a bunch of kids and their show cattle.
Showing cattle and working with youth is a big passion of mine. I have shown cattle and been involved in livestock shows since I was a youth. I don’t think there has been a year of my life since I started showing, I have not been involved with my own animals, my kids, or someone else’s kids projects. I have been involved in 4-H in some capacity for over 20 years and even though I have stepped back from being as involved, I am always willing to help families with their 4-H projects.
My husband and I have started showing some of our own cattle, but of course much of my time is spent helping youth with their cattle projects and hauling them around. Because of that, there are many hilarious things that happen that will make great content for my editorial.
The latest crazy event was the trip to Ozarks Fall Farmfest in Springfield, Mo., the first part of October. We always take our own display of cattle and we get them settled in and set up on Thursday. Little did I know I had a stowaway chicken in the trailer among all the tack we haul up for our cattle. I did a trailer check before I left the house to make sure I didn’t have any extra passengers, but apparently not good enough. So here is this chicken setting on top of things and I really thought I could just shut the door and she would stay there, but at that same moment, she jumped out of the trailer. This hen is looking for a place to get under and of course she is not interested in going back where she came from. She makes her way under another trailer nearby and I am going back and forth looking like a crazy lady trying to catch this chicken. The owner of the truck walks out of the barn and is watching me and I’m sure he thought I was trying to get in his truck. If you happen to be a reader of OFN, yes that was me! I explain It is just a chicken that rode in our trailer I am trying to catch. He just turned and went back in the barn about his business. This went on for 15 minutes and I got her close to our trailer, but she was not getting back in! After a few more tries, I just gave up and left her before any more people in the barn saw me acting like a fool chasing this chicken around in the middle of the day. I figured she was now a permanent resident of the fairgrounds.
Several hours later after getting our stuff set up in the barn, the kids that I help had arrived with their cattle and we managed to get their stuff unloaded and situated. Of course I told them about this silly chicken and like kids, they wanted to see if it was still there and if we could catch it. By this time, I no longer had the trailer hooked on and knew if we managed to catch her, there was no way to haul it back home unless one of the kids held her in their lap. I do need to add that when I unloaded our trailer, she had layed an egg, so this was now in the cup holder of the truck. At this point I figured the hen had loaded herself up into someone else’s trailer and she would just be a big surprise to whomever was lucky enough to close their trailer door with her inside. Well, what do you know, but the kids saw the hen underneath a truck when they went to look. I told them, “OK, ONE CHANCE to catch her!” I was not messing around with this silly hen and looking like a fool again. Of course, we managed to catch her but then we had the issue of how to get her home. I borrowed a box from a neighboring cattleman who wasn’t sure about letting go of his “really good box” but I promised him I would return it the next day. He has no idea how much he saved the day, but he also made me laugh because I thought only us ladies saved a “really good box!”
The next few days at FarmFest, I had several cattle people ask me if I had caught the chicken. Apparently, the story of a crazy chicken lady had made the rounds. I am already known as the lady that hauls all those kids around, so why not add a new title!
This kind of stuff is what makes up so much of what I do, and it certainly keeps things entertaining for me and those kids that I haul around. I hope to be able to share these crazy adventures with you and for some, you may just get to witness these antics in person along the way!
Debbie Elder is a native of Ottawa County, Okla. and lives on her farm in Webster County, Mo. To contact Debbie, call 1-866-532-1960 or by email at [email protected]
