The Cheesemistress serves as a muse again! This post spun off a memory that always puts a smile on my face.
Back in my first life I had a granddaughter. Three actually. Oh - I was only 27 but I was still Gamma. The oldest was a beauitful, smart as a whip little angel - Alyssa. What a trip she was.
Anyway, as I've mentioned before we raised beef cattle. Just a small operation - enough for our families and some friends. And we started out small. Real small. We started out with 1. His name was T-Bone.
T-bone quickly became the family pet. Except for me. Having been around farm animals most of my life I knew better. But no one listened to me.
Ex would take Alyssa out and let her play with T-Bone. Ride him like a pony. Every time she came over that was the first thing she had to do. Go out and play with T-Bone.
Well, as was bound to happen the day finally came around that T-Bone went to the butcher. No one told Alyssa - I figured it was his responsibility. Lucikly for us she missed the loading and hauling of off old T-Bone. But she was there when he came home!
I had made, ironically enough, some t-bones on the grill for dinner that night. Made all the appropriate stuff to go with it,a celebration of sorts, but T-Bone was the guest of honor.
Ex had just brought in the steaks and Alyssa came running into the kitchen - Gamma! Gamma! Where's T-Bone? Where is he? I wanna ride!
Ex: Here Alyssa. Try this.
Alyssa: Ohh that's very good steak Papa. But where's T-Bone? I miss him.
Ex: Here, try another piece.
And on it went. I had to leave the room. I didn't know how I would explain to this sweet 4 year old why Gamma was laughing so hard.
He never did tell her what happened to T-Bone. My response was always - "Ask your Papa."
Cruel? Maybe - but damn that was some good meat. Let me tell you!
Posted by Tammi at July 27, 2005 05:12 AMOh my God! Are you familiar with the area enough to know where White Pines is? My brother has 50 acres southeast of there, and we're on our second "herd". Last year was the first time we had our own cattle, but fortunately we all know better than to view them as pets. We got half a beef last year and it has been delicious!
We must have been on the same wave length last night because I have venison loaf made up for dinner tonight.
That poor child! If your ex was going to say "here he is" I was going to scream at the monitor!
Posted by: Sissy at July 27, 2005 05:32 AMHeheh... WE knew. They were our pets, but we also knew they were chow... we used to talk about which one we may be eating at the supper table!
Posted by: That 1 Guy at July 27, 2005 05:57 AMI disagree Sissy, I was waiting for that to happen. I'm a cruel man, I know... But that is what happened to me... even at the time I found it amusing.
Me: Grandpa, where's the blackie? (A black cow on his farm I thought was really cool)
Grandpa: You know that roast you liked so much at dinner? That was Blackie.
Me: Wow, Blackie tasted good.. Can we try a white cow tomorrow?
Posted by: Contagion at July 27, 2005 06:27 AM