Singing the "Birthday Song". Giving gifts. Eating cake. Opening gifts. Giving birthday spankings. Most of these are common activities at a kid's or even an adults birthday party. When we moved to the Nebraska Sandhills, we learned of a new tradition that made me thankful to have a late Spring birthday.
At the Ranch, it was "customary" to get thrown in the tank for one's birthday. I made it pretty easy, as the littlest person on the ranch to get picked up, swung over someone's shoulder and literally thrown in the middle of a horse tank in the corral - green slimy moss and all! There was no time to retaliate; no time to kick off your shoes; and basically no where to run too!
I was an easy victim. But sometimes the bigger boys and men weren't so easy. It would sometimes take two guys - one to get the arms and one to get the legs - or four men - one on each limb - to get the bigger guys in the tank. Somehow, it always happened. What about those who had a winter birthday? They weren't forgotten - they just got their surprise birthday christening in the summer months when they least expected.
Ranch life was pretty good. We worked together, played together, and celebrated together.
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