Comments on: How to Handle Your Oxen When You Cross the Plains

By: Blog Segullah : Funny Pioneer Stories

Blog Segullah : Funny Pioneer Stories — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 04:13:06 +0000

[...] Don’t miss Ardis Parshall’s Pioneer Day posts at Keepapitchinin: How to Handle Your Oxen When You Cross the Plains [...]

By: Bill MacKinnon

Bill MacKinnon — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 02:28:40 +0000

Mark B., in thinking about the barn scene in the Herriot book you may wish to review Asa G. Sheldon’s five handy-dandy, all-purpose commands for the management of oxen. I wonder which one Herriot used or misused…

By: Mark B.

Mark B. — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 01:46:20 +0000

Having spent some time cleaning the baptistry at the Manhattan temple, I think I can safely say that the beasts are not, repeat NOT anatomically correct.

Talking about the increased difficulty of the procedure after the animal has reached maturity reminds me of one funny scene from one of James Herriot’s books, when he as a young veterinary assistant was assigned the task of obtaining semen from a bull for the A.I. man. It’s been too long since I read it to remember which volume it was in, or the details, but it seems that the collection tube took off rather like a model rocket, etc.

By: Bill MacKinnon

Bill MacKinnon — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 01:18:55 +0000

Uh, I nominate Ray for Ardis’s suggested chore, although it may be one that calls for either a contortionist or an especially agile (if not dignified) person to gain the requisite vantage point. Come to think of it, Ray has been put through enough discomfort today…

By: Ray

Ray — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 01:16:35 +0000

Oh, Ardis, the temple will never be the same for me. Thanks a lot!!

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 23:17:20 +0000

Heh! Next one to do baptisms, take a good look and see if they really *are* oxen!

By: Bill MacKinnon

Bill MacKinnon — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 22:40:39 +0000

Hmmm, perhaps I shouldn’t have brought up this whole oxen definitional thing…but, come to think of it, aren’t LDS baptismal founts structurally as well as symbolically supported on the backs of — gasp! — oxen?

By: Ray

Ray — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 19:50:18 +0000

“many, many, many warning that the procedure becomes progressively more difficult for calf and operator the older the calf gets”

You think? I wonder if circumcision was a bit more difficult for Abraham (or his adult children) than it was for my son while still in the hospital. Hmmm . . . going to have to think about that one.

By: Ray

Ray — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 19:47:58 +0000

Hit the wrong keys without thinking. Obviously, meant to type a

By: Ray

Ray — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 19:47:22 +0000

Nice to see you caught that, Ardis. :;