Alright, everyone. You have to promise not to laugh! But here it goes; being a city girl I never knew just what was meant by living the country life, so when the opportunity to purchase 1000 acres of farmland in Pecos Texas, came my way, I couldn’t pass it up. To become a real life cowgirl, that thought made my entire family laugh. My sister Nancy laughed, as she said” Anna, you as a cowgirl? You don’t even know the difference between and chicken and a pigeon.” I do so! I said the chicken gives you eggs and the pigeon gives us droppings all over our deck out there.
As we looked at the land survey and started making plans on what to do, and how much live-stock to have, Nancy said “are you really going to milk a cow at 4 am in the morning or muck out the stalls. Of course I will, I said. It can’t be any worse than mucking out that doorway downstairs before we can leave. We began laughing at that thought.

The real fun didn’t start until my sister and I hit the road, on our journey to become city slickers. Our first stop was in West Virginia, where we found this quaint little town called Welch. When you look around, you can see that the modern times haven’t touched this town. When we walked into the dinner/bar, they all stopped and looked at us, “all three of them.” We laughed and asked do you know of a good place to sleep? The big strapping guy with short crop black hair and ocean blue eyes, which sat at the end of the bar said, I don’t think you ladies want to stay around here; there aren’t any five star hotels! Just a bed and breakfast with some home cooked meals. We looked at each other and said ok, were do we find it! He pointed to the stairs, left of the door, and said. Up there and to your left 20 bucks a night. Laughing we laid the twenty on the bar and said thank you. After a good night sleep and a really good breakfast, (all home made as promised). We thank them for their hospitality and hit the road.

While driving through West Virginia, we saw cows, horses and wheat fields, right out next to the road. I looked at my sister and said Wow! Real live cows and she laughed at me again. Next stop on our journey to Texas was Arkansas, were it was wide open plains of wheat and cornfields. The house were 2000 to 3000 yards apart, now that’s living I said as we passed the farms. Let’s find a place to sleep, Nancy said as we drove down I40 towards Little Rock Arkansas. We found a horse ranch just outside of Hot Springs and stayed there for the night. We asked our host Mr. Daniels all kinds of question about growing up on a farm. Mr. Daniels our host said, you ladies never visited a farm or milked cows before? No sir, I said born and raised in New York City, I said. Real live city slickers, he said as he walked out of the kitchen. Follow me I’ll give you ladies a taste of the farm life.

Ok, we said as we walked out of the house and down to the barn. As I walked down to the barn with Mr. Daniels and Nancy, I noticed that the horse ranch was modest ranch with one main house, a barn, and two equipment sheds and the horse stable. Mr. Daniels, walked over to a little house with fence material around it, next to the barn. What’s this? Nancy said, as she took two steps back. It’s a chicken coup? I said, as I laughed, and you said I was the city girl that couldn’t tell the difference between a chicken and a pigeon.

Laughing at us both Mr. Daniels reached in and grabbed a chicken by the neck, as he put the chicken down on the block and hacked off the head Nancy yelled, “Oh My God,” “Oh My God”, and then fainted. It was the funniest thing I’ve seen in a long while. After Mr. Daniels and I pick as she fainted and fell to the barn floor. After Mr. Daniels and I picked Nancy up off the barn floor, we walked back to the house and boiled the chicken and plucked the feathers off it. Once we learned how to do that, Mr. Daniels cooked dinner and we laughed some more at Nancy fainting.
Well its morning and it’s time to hit the road, where are you ladies heading too Mr. Daniels asked? We are on our way to Texas, I said, were we brought a 1000 acre farm. Well I suggest you get some farm hands, because that one won’t be able to eat, as he laughed at Nancy, I laughed too and said I’ll be working the farm she’s going to work on the house. We thank Mr. Daniels for all his hospitality and started on that long road again.

Well it’s three days later and we have arrived in Texas, Hooray! As we drove across interstate 10, we couldn’t help but notice that everything out here is farmland. Where’s the Wal-Mart! Never mind the Wal-Mart! Nancy said where the Star bucks is! I need a cup of coffee. Well you aren’t going to see no Starbucks out here I said, laughing. If there’s no Star bucks take me home. You are home, as I pointed up the dirt road to the land. What the - Nancy said, am I suppose to remodel that! More like bulldoze it down and start from scratch. You can do it! I said and turned my head so that she didn’t see me laughing.

After three months of rebuilding the house and acquiring live stock we stood back and looked, at each other and said “we did it,” two New York City girls have been transformed into real live cowgirls. And all it took was a broken leg, two black eyes, and a busted lip! And that was just from me trying to clean the barn. Nancy suffered a much worst fate; she had to kill dinner every day for six weeks, because of my broken leg. Can you picture her passing out every time she picked up the axe? If you can’t! It went much like this. Nancy would walk down to the barn and open the door, as soon as she saw the axe, down she went. She picks herself up and goes for the chicken and she faint again. Now she has the axe in one hand and the chicken in the other and sprawled out on the barn floor, chicken clucking and trying to get away. She picks herself up, the ax in one hand the chicken in the other and screams up to the porch, “order takeout” I can’t do it! I just can’t! I’m no murder.

So I guess by now everyone reading this, now know I was forced to eat from the pig shack every day for six weeks. But it’s been three years now and we are doing great and Nancy can actually kill a chicken without fainting. Our farm is great and our live stock thrives on this 1000 acre farm, with its natural spring running through it.

Original article by Anna Moore