Good, I've got one.
This morning I walked down to the car by myself. Farmer John stayed snug in the bed and took a "mental health day". When I got to the car, I looked across the road to where our neighbors keep some cattle. Usually they are behind a very nice fence. This morning, one appeared to not be behind the fence but instead standing in their driveway.
Now, I wasn't positive it was out of the fence because it was still fairly dark. Also, sometimes they string electric fence across the drive and let the cows into that area. Still, I couldn't see anything that looked like it would hold a cow on the right side of the road. I was running late and didn't want to explore over there too much, so I called John. The still-sleepy Farmer John assured me he would check on it.
What follows is the e-mail I got at lunch today:
"You were right. Just in case you wanted to hear that again to brighten your day....YOU were RIGHT. Not too long after you left I heard a semi-truck horn blowing loudly in front of our parking spot. I went outside to take a look and some friendly yooper from Caiman Energy was chasing one of Joe's cows off the road and back up towards the cabin. I guess the situation nearly resulted in 1200 lbs of premium hamburger scattered down Route 7. I couldn't reach Joe or the Smiths so the Caiman guys and I strung some electri-twine across the driveway to prevent the rogue bovine from merging onto the highway. Hopefully that will work."
It is so rare that I'm right about farm stuff I just had to share it. Hope your day is going better than the cow who almost got hit with a semi!
Both of you are such good story tellers!
ReplyDeleteNot the best way to start a mental health day, however! It has been pouring rain here since the middle of the night Hope that was not the case on Route 7. It would have been slippery premium beef.
One day, during a droughty summer years ago, I was on a bike ride in the farmlands west of town with a friend, when on a small side road we came upon about forty Guernsey milk cows grazing the ditches on both sides of the narrow lane. They may look very pastoral in a photo, but close up the look big, black and white, and ready to flatten a biker with one casual shift of a hip. We had to wait for a car to come along to push a path through, so we weren't ground into hamburger. Semis or bikes: they can do some damage if they get in your way. Kudos to John. Certainly Highland cattle would be smarter than to cross without looking.
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