Sharon's First Trip to Texas

Sharon and I were making our first visit to Barnhart, Texas (about June 1981). Sharon was about seven months pregnant with our first child.

She had not met any of my family prior to this visit and had not really ever been on a farm or out in the country before. Sharon had spent most of her time growing up in Sunnyvale, CA, or East Northport, Long Island, NY. Being on a farm in the country in West Texas was a quite a bit different than her previous experience!
 

Here is where Sharon actually saw hogs for the first time. When Mama told her we needed to go feed the pigs, Sharon assumed that they were small, pink animals with cute, curly tails. What she didn't know was these pigs were 400 lb hogs! She was really taken back when she saw them and I think she was a little afraid of these animals.

Later on during the trip, Dutch had bought some feed for the cows, hogs and chickens and we were unloading from Old Blue, our 1967 Ford pickup. Sharon was pulling the cattle feed to the back edge of the pickup when one of the cows tried to get the 50 lb feed bag away from her. Sharon and the cow were having this tug-of-war over the bag. Dutch was laughing so hard he could barely stand. What a site to see a 1000 lb cow and a 100 lb pregnant lady fighting over that bag!