What a week !!!! Lord..when we asked for rain, we REALLY didn't wish for the tempest. A little rain, enough to feed the garden, enough to encourage the dehydrated trees to raise their wilted leaves heavenward. Just enough rain to wash the dust off the parched pastures and to sustain the flow of our dried up creek......we didn't ask for a hurricane ! Be careful what you ask for sprang to mind as the winds blew through the barnyard, lifted anything that wasn't tied down and scattered everything in its path. Branches were flying like missiles through the air, buckets were uplifted and deposited when and where the wind dropped, gutters overflowed and the raging creek roared. "Ooops....that didn't sound good" I thought as Mother Nature's fury whipped around my legs and a loud crack reverberated through the valley,..that didn't sound good at all...and I was right ! As the evening shadows fell across the ravaged pastures and "hot to trot" anxious horses returned to the barn with the wind under their tails, the resultant storm damage became obvious. A forty foot Alder tree had yielded to the storm and fallen, annihilating a thirty foot stretch of Mr. Cooper's pasture. The electric fence system had been destroyed and in the barn kitchen the hot wire monitor showed a disturbingly flat line. Clearly after months of drought, Mother Nature has once again reminded us that she is a force to be reckoned with.
This afternoon, with the clouds once again skittering across a very grey sky, Greg and trusty Jim (his right hand man) resolutely headed off to Mr. Cooper's pasture to make right what Mother Nature had destroyed. As the aroma of bacon frying wafted across the valley and the cuckoo clock struck noon Greg and Jim suspended their restoration operation......lunch being a seriously important farming priority. Sadly for the two weary hungry farmers, getting out of Mr. Cooper the big bay thoroughbred's pasture was NOT going to be as easy as getting in. The old grey Ford growled, Jim hastened to open the big tube gate, Cooper waited and seized the moment. As the truck passed through, the big ageing bay recalled the speed and vitality of his earlier years, saw the partially open gate, the enticing mares across the road and took off for freedom. Greg tried to head him off, Jim ran for the open gate which is open to the farm road and Mr. Cooper resolutely ignored them all..Greg, Jim and the truck. By this time, Bella the Jersey cow, Sirloin the little red Dexter steer, her partner in crime and the flock of sheep led by Barney the ram had been attracted by the resultant chaos and confusion and added their combined forces into the debacle. Clearly Greg's waving cajoling and cursing was having little effect on a Mr. Cooper, bound and determined to take the mares into his harem and as poor Jim raced back and forth retrieving lead rope and trying to secure the gate Greg resorted to throwing himself around the villainous gelding's neck. Apparently his intent, should Mr. Cooper continue through the gate ( with Greg attached like a limpet to his neck) was to throw his legs up...um ...onto what Greg ??? I have a mental vision of us in the emergency Room ...you broke your neck, back, arms and legs..doing what ? Thankfully Cooper saw the error of his ways, the cows and sheep were persuaded to return to their respective pasture and law and order was restored to the barn yard. I think Mars Jupiter and Orion collided in the heavens today...tomorrow is another day and, please Lord.....let it be calm. Thank you once again Jim for being in the right place at the right time ...and smiling through it all !!!
Take care, keep safe, M
This afternoon, with the clouds once again skittering across a very grey sky, Greg and trusty Jim (his right hand man) resolutely headed off to Mr. Cooper's pasture to make right what Mother Nature had destroyed. As the aroma of bacon frying wafted across the valley and the cuckoo clock struck noon Greg and Jim suspended their restoration operation......lunch being a seriously important farming priority. Sadly for the two weary hungry farmers, getting out of Mr. Cooper the big bay thoroughbred's pasture was NOT going to be as easy as getting in. The old grey Ford growled, Jim hastened to open the big tube gate, Cooper waited and seized the moment. As the truck passed through, the big ageing bay recalled the speed and vitality of his earlier years, saw the partially open gate, the enticing mares across the road and took off for freedom. Greg tried to head him off, Jim ran for the open gate which is open to the farm road and Mr. Cooper resolutely ignored them all..Greg, Jim and the truck. By this time, Bella the Jersey cow, Sirloin the little red Dexter steer, her partner in crime and the flock of sheep led by Barney the ram had been attracted by the resultant chaos and confusion and added their combined forces into the debacle. Clearly Greg's waving cajoling and cursing was having little effect on a Mr. Cooper, bound and determined to take the mares into his harem and as poor Jim raced back and forth retrieving lead rope and trying to secure the gate Greg resorted to throwing himself around the villainous gelding's neck. Apparently his intent, should Mr. Cooper continue through the gate ( with Greg attached like a limpet to his neck) was to throw his legs up...um ...onto what Greg ??? I have a mental vision of us in the emergency Room ...you broke your neck, back, arms and legs..doing what ? Thankfully Cooper saw the error of his ways, the cows and sheep were persuaded to return to their respective pasture and law and order was restored to the barn yard. I think Mars Jupiter and Orion collided in the heavens today...tomorrow is another day and, please Lord.....let it be calm. Thank you once again Jim for being in the right place at the right time ...and smiling through it all !!!
Take care, keep safe, M
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