meet me at the livestock gate

it's 2:48 a.m. and i find myself in a parking lot adjacent to reliant center and the empty shell of the astrodome. the dome sits unused and lonely in the dark, a ghost of what it used to be - the 8th wonder of the world, home to the astros, the oilers, and the world's largest livestock show and rodeo.

but the astrodome is a story for another day. we're here to talk about what it means to be a volunteer rodeo committeeman. what'd you do on your spring break? i woke up in the wee hours of morning to unload 1500 head of hogs for the houston livestock show. obviously.

so the rodeo runs on volunteer man power. it is the largest, best show in the country, and exhibitors will attest to that.

"m'am, i just want to thank you for what y'all are doin' this morning. we spent seben, shoot maybe eight, hours unloadin' in san antone, and y'all get 'er done in less than two."

yessir, we get it done. here's how i got here: my grandfather got myself and my two roomies on the committee called Breeders Greeters. There are tons of committees, and 25,000 committeeman who volunteer 40 hours or more each year before and during the Show to make it happen. The Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo (HLS&R) is actually a huge non-profit based in agriculture, education, and western heritage. It's main focus is getting kids to college and getting them scholarships.

Breeders Greeters works round the clock during the Show to get the different exhibitors in and out smoothly, check their paperwork, unload their gear, assist in unloading the animals. (Most of the animals do not get reloaded because they're headed to slaughter after the show.) You could see everything from goats, lambs, cattle, steer, pigs, rabbits, llamas & alpaca, speciality mini-cattle...

This morning I assisted in unloading pigs. Three city girls in their twenties and a few guys who knew what they were doin' held metal gates along a "chute" of packed dirt. We'd direct the trailers in groups of four over the dirt, they'd get out and open the trailer's backend, shove their pigs out onto our dirt road, and whack them with sticks to tell the pig which direction to go. Our gates kept a fair share of curious pigs from entering the parking lot - and there may have been one or two who nudged their way through - but not on my end, thank you.

When I say pig, I mean big hog. Smelly. Loud. Two hundred pounds. Those babies can squeal - particularly the last hog left in the trailer by itself - he gets noisy, wondering where all his friends are and what the hell he's doin' still in the trailer.

From 4 am - 8 am we had steady trailers and hogs - some old trailers brought groups of FFA kids with 10-12 pigs inside. "Brandon- yours is coming out. Show 'em where to go, son!"

"Tiffany, this spotted one right hur, its yours ain't it? Get after it, girl." "Tiffany" was usually wearing sweat pants tucked into boots or rainboots, high school t-shirt on, hair piled into a messy pony. Sometimes Tiffany wasn't old enough to be in FFA - but she was still here to show and she could handle her pig, boy i tell you what.

You can NOT tie pigs and lead 'em around like large dogs. You just walk beside 'em or behind 'em and direct 'em with your 'stick'. One lady looked at me this morning while watching her FFA kids, and with a smile she said: "This is why I'd take a heifer anyday. You put a bridle on 'em, you lead 'em to their stall, you're done. But not with these pigs, oh no... damn these pigs."

My sentiments exactly. I drove a golf cart in the rain for two hours after the unloading was done - literally praying to God that I did not injure anyone like the last time I drove a golf cart in the rain - more on that later.

It was a fun day, I headed to my car around 12:30 p.m. as the second shift was coming on board. Life is funny - and I think the mornings that you wake up at 2 am to unload hogs in the middle of Houston make it even funnier.