It started with a breathless cell phone call to me…..Greg’s cell phone started to cackle ( his ring tone was recorded in the hen house on a bad chicken day !!!) …then the barn phone started to ring out through the darkness. All the calls were the same, short, precise, panicked…”ALL your cows are out.” It was cold, it was wet, it was nasty, in fact exactly the kind of night, if cows are going to choose to leave home, they will. From all over the barn we abandoned what we were doing, Mr. Cooper was just enjoying a tummy rub, Mojo the chunky red Dexter calf ( who we at least did know was warm and dry in her little stall) was just in the process of inhaling a gallon on creamy frothy momma’s milk and Starbuck was as usual, falling asleep on his feet during his evening ablutions. Everyone gravitated to the cow pen to access the damage, “no blame policy” excuses started to form in my brain. If our cows were out…..how and when ? A fresh call…more excited, followed by more, frenzied…the cows….OUR cows were taking a leisurely stroll up Lackey Road, in the dark…in the rain.
We stood lining the rails of the cow pen, the warm wet smell of cow met us, placidly chomping on the sweet dry hay in the feeder were our cows, deep drown eyes turned to us expectantly as we counted the occupants of the pen. Clearly our cows weren’t out taking a meandering amble through the neighborhood……but some farmer wasn’t having a good day. So, there we were, Christmas Eve standing in ever growing puddles, rain dripping off the end of my nose wearing a horse blanket ( please DON'T ask !!), blocking this drive way or that, opening gates and closing them for a bunch of wayward cows that were dumb enough to choose a stormy Christmas Eve to make their SEVENTH breakout of the week and that I could hear crashing around in the forest but never caught sight of. To cut a long and painful story short, the escapees were chased up hill and down dale, through forests creeks and back yards……but the spent the remainder of Christmas eve on the run…in the rain. Now, those are DUMB cows !!! and very happily, NOT ours. Apparently their escape hole in the fence keeps being “fixed” but a momma bear and her cub keep unfixing it and in the process, releases the cows. mmmmmm ?
Christmas day snowed !! It was wet and cold and beautiful. Greg and I are so happy to be spending another Christmas in our own little Heaven surrounded by peace and love ( dumb cows) great friends and neighbours. Merry Christmas to all and thank you for making us part of a wonderful community. Got to go, take care, keep safe and dry, M
We stood lining the rails of the cow pen, the warm wet smell of cow met us, placidly chomping on the sweet dry hay in the feeder were our cows, deep drown eyes turned to us expectantly as we counted the occupants of the pen. Clearly our cows weren’t out taking a meandering amble through the neighborhood……but some farmer wasn’t having a good day. So, there we were, Christmas Eve standing in ever growing puddles, rain dripping off the end of my nose wearing a horse blanket ( please DON'T ask !!), blocking this drive way or that, opening gates and closing them for a bunch of wayward cows that were dumb enough to choose a stormy Christmas Eve to make their SEVENTH breakout of the week and that I could hear crashing around in the forest but never caught sight of. To cut a long and painful story short, the escapees were chased up hill and down dale, through forests creeks and back yards……but the spent the remainder of Christmas eve on the run…in the rain. Now, those are DUMB cows !!! and very happily, NOT ours. Apparently their escape hole in the fence keeps being “fixed” but a momma bear and her cub keep unfixing it and in the process, releases the cows. mmmmmm ?
Christmas day snowed !! It was wet and cold and beautiful. Greg and I are so happy to be spending another Christmas in our own little Heaven surrounded by peace and love ( dumb cows) great friends and neighbours. Merry Christmas to all and thank you for making us part of a wonderful community. Got to go, take care, keep safe and dry, M
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