For us DUers born after August 8, 1974, where were you?

[struggle4progress]

32. I was working on a ranch, and that day a few of us were supposed to slaughter a cow.

We got her in the chute, which had six or seven foot walls, and the cow decided she had better ideas about to spend the day

I learned something that had never occurred to me: an agitated cow can jump a six or seven foot wall. She took off across the open ground, and we went after her in a truck. The irrigator managed to shoot her down, and we found ourselves in proud possession of a dead cow, some distance from the slaughter house

I then learned that cows are quite heavy and, although possible, it is hard work for three guys to pull a cow into the bed of a pickup, even if the guys are in good shape and the cow is dead

We bounced our loaded truck back over the fields, dragged her into the slaughter house, hung her up, and proceeded with disassembly

Never having done this before, I learned more but was finding my learning experience less and less enjoyable as the day proceeded. Perhaps I should also mention that I was a vegetarian back then

Eventually we had sides of beef for the walk-in cooler and a well-hosed-down slaughter house. At this point, I was exhausted and filthy: I had been down in the dirt trying to move a former bovine; I had in various moments met quantities of fresh manure; I had been spattered with gore; and I had been grueling away for hours in the 100+ degree heat

I walked slowly back to the bunkhouse to clean up for dinner, which was approaching. One of the fellows came down the steps off the porch to meet me

"Nixon resigned," he said. "You're a mess"

I told him about my afternoon. It now seemed to me a metaphor. We worked to get that cow. And I felt like we'd gotten Nixon too