Holy Cow!

What an exciting and exhausting evening ...

First a neighbour came by to mention that we had a problem. When I asked him what he meant, he gestured to the grass beside the house where there were cows grazing. Huh? I looked back at him, flabbergasted. He pointed to the farm to the east of us, shrugged, grinned and got back in his truck. He wave goodbye and I ran for the camera.

A few minutes later a second neighbour came

by, explained that the cows had been loose this morning, galloping all over the motocross. Yikes! P's pride and joy, the diamond in the rough he's been polishing for weeks ... trampled?! We called the cow farm and then went to shoo the cows back home. Their son came with some grain, called something that sounded like "Ko-boss" and they followed him away lickety-split.

Number one son grabbed the ATV keys and said he's going to check out the damage on the track. I convinced him to eat a piece of pizza first and as he was chewing, the 2nd neighbour called us to say the cows were back on our track! Double yikes! I joined S on the ATV and we headed out.

In the back field we rounded up the cows and encouraged them to leave the track, guiding them around the carefully groomed burms and jumps and failing terribly. I used the walkie-talkie to tell J to call the cow farmer neighbour again, and shortly their son came to get them. Unsuccessfully. We traipsed around the field, herding the cows and looking for the hole in the fence where they'd come in. To no avail. The cows wandered back again toward the track and S ran to shoo them away. The other kid went home. I was at a complete and utter (udder?) loss. What to do? Cows loose in the field, no dinner, motocross track in peril, sun setting, stomach growling, mosquitos buzzing ... a year ago I had a nice cozy house, finished bathrooms, minimal weeds in the yard, no cows loose in the back yard ... what has my life become?!?!

Moments later S went home for provisions but I stayed to protect the track and the other kid came back with what appeared to be a sack of grain over his shoulder. He called his mysterious "Ko-boss" mantra again and they began to follow him! First around to the east, then north a bit towards the road, then back to our farm field. He led them along the creek in the direction of the south end of his farm. But incredibly, they found the hole in the fence that we'd searched for and they came right back into our field. ARGH! Eventually, we decided to shoo them up the laneway, onto the road (are there laws against this?) and down their driveway. The cows were less compliant. They'd discovered that the bag of grain was really sawdust. ("Are you crazy?" the other kid said. "Grain would weigh 35 kg!") The cows meandered off the path, weaving insane paths through the long grass. Once on the main road, the veered north into yet another neighbour's farm. Stopping to graze here and there. Apparently cows don't like to move very far without stopping to eat. Kinda like most Americans.

Finally, the other kid's dad came in his truck. Once those cows heard him coo "Ladies, come here" they trotted lightly after him, most of them across their field and some down our driveway, popping over the fence by our house, leaving a trail of wet brown patties behind them. Whew.

We hung up our coats and I went to put the walkie-talkies away, but when I gave my coat to Sam it must have fallen out of the pocket ... back outside to re-trace our steps. S had the idea to use the first WT to call the missing one, so I went back home to ask J to do it and I hear his voice coming from the garage ... it had gotten lodged in the foot peg of the ATV. We packed them away and looked at each other We'd been chasing cows for two hours. A fantastic excuse for not getting homework completed. What an evening!