It's moo-thirty a.m....do you know where your cows are?

I mean...2:30 a.m.
The husband's cel phone rang this morning at 2:30, it was Antonio the night milker - there was a cow having a calf and he needed hubby to come over and "pull a calf"...guess you could call him the mid-wife for cows.
Hubby heads out to the other farm, I snuggle in hoping to go back to sleep. I start to drift off...
I hear a moo, the moo is coming from the wrong direction. After living here for thirty years a girl gets to know which direction a moo should come from, if it's a stress-moo, a horny-moo, a pain-moo...you get the picture. This was a stress-moo...and it was coming from the northwest - moos here should come from the south.
That's it, if a moo is coming from the wrong direction this could spell serious trouble.
I got out of bed, went to the upstairs window to listen, "moooo, moooooo".
Downstairs I go, outside...in my jammies and sandals. Walked into the backyard and out to the veggie garden, no moo. Walked back to the house to get a flashlight, moo, dang it...moo bouncing off buildings. Walked out to the silage bunker, hear stress moo. Brain wakes up a little more, perhaps it would be"hoove" (pun intended) me to get my car so I can drive behind the barn and use my headlights to scan the field...grab the cel phone and dog too! Drive out...and there she is - what the cow-crap??? She's brown - at least I think it's a she...the bovine is in the field and with the lousy light and long grass I can't see so good and I for sure can't see her "privates"! I know I can't chase her alone, in the dark, with a bad ankle to boot. If I did chase her...where would I chase her to? I don't know anybody in the neighborhood who has reddish brown cows - where on earth did this beast come from.
Think to call hubby, who I think is still at the other farm, get hubbys voice mail - I'm thinking he's busy with maternity duty and can't answer. Sooo...I go back to the house, thinking I'll wait for hubby to come back...then I hear the beep - his cel phone voice mail alert...he doesn't even have the stinking phone with him.
What's a girl to do?
Go back to bed, not my cow, can't chase it alone, where would I chase it to?
It's stinking dark, my ankle hurts, I walk verrry carefully - I dO NOt RUn!
Go back to bed is the only clear answer, I wouldn't even know who to call because I don't know anyone who has cows that look like that...in the dark I was guessing she was a beef cow. She's in the field, there's lots of grass...settle down missy and we'll deal with you in the morning and don't you daaaare get lost in the corn field...cuz we'll neverrr find you in there.
Hubby comes home an hour later...he had been home earlier but when he didn't see my vehicle he went down the road where he saw a lot of other trucks. When he was at the other farm there were two cows on the road, he also had no idea where they came from...so he locked them up and came home, he figured when he didn't see my rig I went to help with the rodeo-round-up...little did he know I was in my rig behind our own barns scanning the field for strange bovines.
We jumped in his truck, ( I changed from jammies to jeans fyi ), there were more cows, more guys in trucks, and some ATV's...while we were telling them about the beast at our place two more moosies came running out from some body's back yard. They were WiLD! CRaZy! BEaStS! The other farmers told us where the strays came from, and it was wayyy up the road, and they were scattered over a couple of miles - these gals crossed busy roads and nobody got hurt...a-freaking-mazing.
When we got home we checked the pool for cows, just in case - cuz it's happened before. No cows taking a midnight dip...whewww.
This morning when the sun came up there were three brownish/red cows hanging over the fence trying to make friends with our black and white girls.
Somebody came while we weren't home and loaded them up in a cattle trailer and took them back to wherever it is they belong, I hope they ship them someplace far away, becaue these girls obviously have a serious case of wanderlust.
Somebody owes me somethin', I hear the cattle hauler that was housing them at his place was out fishing or crabbing or something ....I think that a nice fish or a dungeness crab or two would be a lovely trade for a lost night of sleep.
Doncha think?
Just sayin'

Good Morning Ladies

Spring has sprung at the cabin.
The balsam root plants are blooming.
The cows are out on our lower range before they
move up to the high country for a few months.
I feel like I'm on a speeding train headed straight
for summer.
I need to remember to take the time to look out the window and enjoy the ride.

Hottie with a Heifer Body

We let the cows out on the pasture a few days ago. It's officially spring here when the ground is dry enough to let the girls out of the barn after a long winter inside. It's always a bit of a rodeo for the first five minutes, then they settle down and start to graze...I guess that would be like eating a fresh salad after eating crackers (hay) all winter.
They were all running around bucking and crow-hopping...making a loop around the lagoon, headbutting and having a good time.
Except for little miss attitude here, serious attitude.
Notice the placement of the hooves...strike a pose baby.
"I think this is my best side, see? Look...I don't think this is the best shot - how about like this?"
What a diva.





And then there's this girl...not really in the mood for a photo shoot.

Cows & Kids

Meet Max & Wiloughby.

Max is one of my favorite kids, he calls me Auntie Shelly but we're not related. He's been showing cows at the fair for about five years now...and he's been winning for that many years too, the kid has the magic touch. He works hard at it ...don't let this casual pose trick you into thinking that he's not going to be all business once he walks her into the show ring.
Isn't she a cutie?

Howdy missy, nice to meet ya.


There are a whole bunch of kids that take this thing pretty seriously, they've been working with their animals for months...training them to lead, cleaning them up, clipping them...even getting their hooves all shiny.

See what I mean? This is Max in the show ring...this is serious stuff.

Oh, and here he is with Petunia...another showgirl. I think Petunia had a bit of a runny nose, it was miserable in the show barn...100 degrees at least...I was a sweaty mess just sitting there watchin, looks like the heat was getting to Petunia too, her nose was running.

Oh my, this is the judge...I remember when he was just a little tiny kid. We were still in the cow showing scene with our own animals, he called me "Cowboy Mans Wife"...now he's all grown up. Yikes.......time sure does fly.

Whooops! I know, I'm supposed to be taking pictures of Max...but dang...these girls are just too cute.

That's Max on the left.

Conversation:

Max - Hey man, sure is hot in here.

Other kid- Sure is, hey...do you know that lady taking all the pictures?

Max - Yeah, that's my Auntie Shelly...she does this a lot...just pretend you don't see her.

Other kid - But Max! She's taken about a hundred pictures by now.

Max - Probably more than that, like I said - just smile at her...eventually her batteries

will go dead and she'll have to stop.

Other kid - Okay..but it's kinda freakin' me out.

We have a winnah folks!

Congrats Max, You did it.

Again!!!

Project Black

"It's not that I don't like those other girls...but sometimes all of their mooing and chewing just gets on my nerves...ya know?"

Oh my, Anna Carson started another project - and I really want to play along. I'm just a teensy bit busy but I simply can't resist a photo challenge. Like the title says it's Project Black...if you're interested in playing along or would like to check out the other participants just pop on over to Anna's blog.
I've been tagged by Diane Mandy over at Martini's for Two, I'm planning to play along with that one too - hopefully tomorrow I'll have a little sit-down time. Hope hope.

N is for Nice Neighbors

Yesterday

, my very nice neighbor was standing here on my front porch, and behind him... just at the end of the sidewalk - stood a cow. Obviously I couldn't take his photo when he was standing there...since I was sorta busy!Cows don't belong on sidewalks, they belong in barns and fields. Cows can do a whole lot of damage to a lawn and garden, gardeners cry big alligator tears when this happens...and then they get really mad at Husbands. The gardener thinks it's The Husbands responsibility to make sure that gates and fences are strong enough to ensure that this doesn't happen.

My nice neighbor and I share a love of plants. In the spring he pays attention to what's blooming here, sometimes he comes over and takes a little piece of a plant to take to his house. Lucky for me, he happened to be looking closely at my yard yesterday as he drove by and noticed that there was a cow standing in the middle of the driveway. He stopped, blocked the end of the driveway with his car to keep the wandering bovine(s) from sauntering into the road, knocked on the front door to let me know my garden was in danger of being trampled by the aforementioned sauntering bovine. I grabbed my cel phone, called The Husband who was at a neighboring farm...no answer...called that farmer who told his wife to "beep" The Husband...who asked where the "out" cows were...to which I replied with (hopefully) a note of humor "at the front door!!!".

My nice neighbor and I chased the cow down a lane (it turned out there was only one gal on the loose), the neighbor went home for lunch, The Husband raced home to the farm, together we convinced the cow she should go back in the barn, The Husband fixed the gate she knocked down and then went back to work at the neighboring farm.

The best thing of all? There is not one hoof print in my lawn and not a single smashed perennial or chewed-on shrub.

All thanks to one incredibly nice neighbor, who took the time to stop and save my garden.

Thank You nice neighbor, you can come over and dig up any little plant your heart desires.

B is for Bovines

Buckin' bovines to be precise.

I wish the photo was a little clearer but to get a bovine to buck isn't an easy task.

Last week we let "the girls" out to pasture for the first time this spring. It's a big day around here and we always invite our friends over to help out, just in case the gals bust through the fence....they are unpredictable to say the least.

Some of the gals refuse to come out of the barn, some nose out gingerly, and some blast out of the door...buckin' and crow-hopping for all they're worth.
In a very short time they are all grazing on the lush spring grass, as if they've been there all along.

Check out Quilldancer for other participants in the alphabet photo challenge.