Okay so the holidays are upon us and that means lots of travel for me... which I love because it means I get to visit so many of the people that I adore but rarely get to spend time with. It also means that I probably won't be posting for at least a week or so. With that in mind, I'll leave you with a story about cows and horses....
When I lived in Oklahoma, we had 5 acres of land. To the North and West of us was an Appaloosa Ranch, to the South a pasture that typically had cattle and to the East a Large pasture and several horse barns. We had quite the menagerie of our own while I lived there... 7 dogs, three cats, a couple bunnies, 2 tiger salamanders, and 3 horse (Oh and 8 kids, but that's another story).
One morning, I actually got up on time, spent some time in the Word, and made it downstairs by 7 am which meant I could start breakfast before heading out to "doctor the horse" who had cut her leg on the fence. It was very foggy that morning, unusually so and as I walked into the family room I heard the dogs barking. I looked out the glass door, through the screened porch and saw the dogs barking at the cows next door. That was unusual.... until I realized that the cows weren't next door. No, they were in our yard. They had gotten through the fence and were heading towards the open gate by the bridge that leads to backyard where the kids play....
I jumped up, threw on my boots, took off my boots, scrambled up the stairs, grabbed socks, ran/ slid back down the stairs, put on socks and boots and ran out the door. Forgot my coat, came back to the door, had to knock on the glass because I had locked myself out and it was freezing outside...a bewildered Shain, who was 4, was asleep on the couch woke up and let me in. I grabbed a coat and rushed back outside... quite the sight. I was wearing what the kids refer to as my "Dr. Suess" Pajama pants, a coat that was both too big and clashed terribly and cowboy boots (and I won't even mention my hair which was probably very carelessly thrown up into a bun).
I ran to the barn and grabbed a lunge whip and headed out to the field to try to figure out the best way to get the cows from our front yard, out of the street and still get them back to their own pasture, when there is no gate between the properties. Happily when Mitchell got up he came out and helped me. Between the two of us we chased every last cow back through the barbed wire fence to their own field. Yes that's right, cows can go through barbed wire, given the right motivation... For that matter, given the right motivation, cows are quite agile creatures.
That was the beginning of a week where every morning I was running up and down the road chasing animals in my pajamas. I'm sure I provided plenty of entertainment to all the neighbors on their way to work at 6 and 7 in the morning. Oh well, who needs dignity when there are horses to save and cows to chase?
When I lived in Oklahoma, we had 5 acres of land. To the North and West of us was an Appaloosa Ranch, to the South a pasture that typically had cattle and to the East a Large pasture and several horse barns. We had quite the menagerie of our own while I lived there... 7 dogs, three cats, a couple bunnies, 2 tiger salamanders, and 3 horse (Oh and 8 kids, but that's another story).
One morning, I actually got up on time, spent some time in the Word, and made it downstairs by 7 am which meant I could start breakfast before heading out to "doctor the horse" who had cut her leg on the fence. It was very foggy that morning, unusually so and as I walked into the family room I heard the dogs barking. I looked out the glass door, through the screened porch and saw the dogs barking at the cows next door. That was unusual.... until I realized that the cows weren't next door. No, they were in our yard. They had gotten through the fence and were heading towards the open gate by the bridge that leads to backyard where the kids play....
I jumped up, threw on my boots, took off my boots, scrambled up the stairs, grabbed socks, ran/ slid back down the stairs, put on socks and boots and ran out the door. Forgot my coat, came back to the door, had to knock on the glass because I had locked myself out and it was freezing outside...a bewildered Shain, who was 4, was asleep on the couch woke up and let me in. I grabbed a coat and rushed back outside... quite the sight. I was wearing what the kids refer to as my "Dr. Suess" Pajama pants, a coat that was both too big and clashed terribly and cowboy boots (and I won't even mention my hair which was probably very carelessly thrown up into a bun).
I ran to the barn and grabbed a lunge whip and headed out to the field to try to figure out the best way to get the cows from our front yard, out of the street and still get them back to their own pasture, when there is no gate between the properties. Happily when Mitchell got up he came out and helped me. Between the two of us we chased every last cow back through the barbed wire fence to their own field. Yes that's right, cows can go through barbed wire, given the right motivation... For that matter, given the right motivation, cows are quite agile creatures.
That was the beginning of a week where every morning I was running up and down the road chasing animals in my pajamas. I'm sure I provided plenty of entertainment to all the neighbors on their way to work at 6 and 7 in the morning. Oh well, who needs dignity when there are horses to save and cows to chase?
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