Bet you didn't know this about me, did you?
This is Cosmo.
I raised this lamb from a bottle.
He really thought I was his mommy.
Even when he was 250 lbs., I could lead him around without a halter.
Once, when he was quite a bit bigger than this, I brought him to a 4-H sponsored petting zoo in the parking lot of the local Alpha-Beta grocery store. (Remember Alpha-Beta?) Anyway, it was just a big pen made of stacked hay bales, surrounded by a flimsy fence, with lambs and goats and pigs and such.
Everything was going smoothly...until some kids who I baby-sat showed up. I tied Cosmo's lead inside the fence and took them into the store to buy them each a cookie from the bakery.
When I came out, I saw people running around like they were trying to catch something. Turns out, they were trying to catch Cosmo. He panicked when I left and jumped the fence. I just called his name and he "baahhhed" and came running to me.
I loved that lamb.
BTW...he won grand champion in the wool division at that fair. The judge said his was the nicest wool he had ever seen and that when I sheered him, I should enter his wool in the fair, too. The next year at the Lakeside Fair, I was told the same thing. And Cosmo won grand champion, and his son won reserve champion. Good genes, I guess.
He died about a year later. Died WAY too young at the hands (or should I say head) of a wild, "range" ram. We don't know exactly how it happened, but it appeared that he jumped another fence and just wasn't strong enough to fight what he found on the other side. I was in seventh grade. It was devastating...but that's not the point of this post.
The point of this post is what a great experience I had raising Cosmo...and participating in 4-H in general. It's not a typical thing in many communities anymore.
As a matter of fact, it's so not typical, that I can use the fact that I raised sheep in 4-H in that "two truths and a lie" game...and people never think it is the truth. Funny, huh?
So, that has me wondering...what is unusual about you or your past? What is true about you that people would most likely guess is a lie? Anything?
2 comments:
Carrie,
This is the cutest picture ever! You're right that enriching activities like 4H don't exist much anymore.
I guess my surprising thing is that I had a love hate relationship with softball as a kid. For years, I refused to hit the ball, even purposely striking out so I didn't have to play. Then magically one summer, I transformed and became the star pitcher... oh those fun summer days...
Mary, I love it! I remember countless hours in the stands watching my brother's little league games. The highlight for me was the snack bar...surprise, surprise. Chik-O-Sticks and Abba-Zabba. Good stuff. I can totally see you as the softball star...especially since I've seen you in "The Amazing Race" now!
Post a Comment