Tuesday, April 20, 2010

THE GREAT COW ADVENTURE











http://asoutherndaydreamer.blogspot.com










http://heidi-heartandhome.blogspot.com





Do white cows count?




http://fadedcharmcottage.blogspot.com


The Family


I'm a life-long city girl who has a fascination with cows. Go figure! When I was about

four years old, my parents stopped by the side of the road so that I could see a man

milking a cow, up close and personal! That's the closest I've ever been until last week.

Our beach house is in a somewhat rural area, and I pass by several little farms on a

daily basis. One of them has some small pastures with a few cows. Over the years, I've

spotted new calves, from time to time, and enjoyed watching them grow. Last week,

the cows were all congregated at the fence, right next to the road. I had my camera

with me, so I decided to stop. I thought I might be lucky enough to snap a couple of

pictures before they wandered off. I pulled my car over into the grass and got out. I

assumed nobody was at home, since I guess I was trespassing! Much to my surprise,

the cows were perfectly happy to stand at the fence and pose for dozens of pictures.

They were completely unperturbed by my presence. They gently licked my hands with

their rough (and dirty) tongues.

I talked baby-talk to them, just like I do to my dogs. I melted at their sweet, gentle

eyes. There was a bull, two female cows and a male calf, who had the cutest little

horns that were just coming out.


Can you see his little horns?

I'm not sure how much time elapsed before {my now new friend} Debbie came out to

see who I was. The poor lady was in a panic, thinking I was from a humane society

and was going to report them for having a fence that needed to be repaired and

possibly have their cows taken away. I quickly introduced myself as a city-slicker, with

a vacation house nearby and apologized profusely for alarming her. I explained my

life-long love for cows and how I couldn't resist the opportunity to see them up close

and take pictures. She apologized that the sheriff's deputy was on the way to check

me out! Needless to say, she was relieved, but also somewhat baffled at my

fascination with
her cows.


Pearl, the mama


Sam, the bull

No-Name Bad Boy, the escapee

She led me to a small corral behind the house, to show me a mother cow and her three-week old calf.



3 week old calf

As we stood and chatted, we suddenly looked behind us and saw that the older calf, in

the front pasture, had escaped! Having trampled down the fence, he was happily

grazing on wild flowers in the front yard, perilously close to the road. This was not

exactly new to her, but I was in a panic now! She told me to just try to keep him

moving away from the road, while she went to get a bucket of food to lure him back

into the pasture. {Hello! Did I mention I haven't had a lot of experience herding

cattle?} Long story short, we chased him all over the yard, with Debbie shaking the

bucket of feed and his Mama and Daddy (aka Pearl and Sam) calling him quite

frantically. He finally ran through the grandchildrens' play area, jumped over the

sandbox, kicking his legs out if we tried to get near him. Debbie opened the big gate

into the back pasture, and he finally ran in. Now, in the midst of all of this, the deputy

had arrived. I introduced myself to him and explained the situation. In fact, his

blowing the horn on the squad car was ultimately the impetus for the calf

to finally run away from the road. I was laughing so hard that I didn't get the final

"running of the bull" on film. Debbie lamented that we could have been on

"America's Funniest Home Videos"! When I told her that this had been one of the

most unforgettable experiences of my life, she shook her head in disbelief. She was

also nice enough to invite me to come visit again anytime.
Thanks Debbie!




17 comments:

  1. For a city slicker, you sure got some good pictures! LOL I grew up on a farm and we used to laugh at our city cousins who came to visit for a week. I have always loved cows, we used to ride them into the barn at milking time and we loved them. Sounds like you are having a great vacation! Come say hi :D

    ReplyDelete
  2. HI Tracy,
    I just love those cows! They are so pretty, sweet, and clean too!. A long time ago I lived on a small ranch, we raised horses and had a few heads of cattle "Teddy tenderloin" and "Petey potroast" etc, etc. One day I came home and Teddy was gone. I assumed he had run away,(there was always a problem with the fences at that place!) but no, the butcher had been there. I cried for hours. I used to brush Teddy's litte tuft of hair, and feed him by hand. that's a sad story...those pretty white guys and gals look like they have a little better life! I'm glad you got to meet the nice farm woman Debbie, and the cows, too!
    Thanks for linking up this week. Come back again, anytime.
    XO
    Heidi - Heart and Home

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  3. Aww so cute! I love cows, they are so sweet and have such kind eyes.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I am doing the tour of White Wednesday and the title with cow caught me. I grew up on a farm and we raised cows, love them. Their soft noses and tufts of hair on the top. On the morning of my wedding, my family and I had to chase cows that had gotten loose, we chased them all over the neighbors fields, you do kind of get used to it. The most memorable cow chasing was a neighbors bull we followed for miles trying to get him back home, cows can be like cats, they have a mind of their own and they are not going to listen even if you are trying to tell him to get OFF the tracks a TRAIN is coming. Don't worry he did meander off and we got him safely contained, but it will always be a fun memory. Have a wonderful day.

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  5. I lived on a farm as a little girl and most of my cousins still have farms. I love cows too, It would be fun to add captions to their expressions, Pearl the momma looks a litte perturbed or maybe just confused. Very cute post.

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  6. I've always loved looking at cows when I'm out driving. The little guy in your photos is sooo cute. I'm loving your blog name. Too cute.

    Enjoy your week.

    Kathleen

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  7. They're so sweet looking. And you're so brave to get so close. I'd be scared (but I'm really a city girl). -- Jane F.

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  8. I love cows. I grew up in a suburb of L.A. but there were dairies nearby. Even my next-door neighbor kept a cow or two on his quarter acre. I'd have one in a heartbeat if I lived on the right kind of property. Chickens and goats too.
    Thanks for stopping by to see my little green house!

    ReplyDelete
  9. That is such a funny story. Your love for cows almost got you in trouble. My husband use to have to go chase his Dad's cow back into the pasture for him every time they got out. He finally got his dad to sell them. This was when we were dating.

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  10. What a fun post!!

    Happy Outdoor Wednesday:)

    What great photos you captured!! That calf is just precious~~~~

    Smiles,
    Kay Ellen

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  11. We use to have a lot of cows where I lived...I miss them, now!

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  12. Thank you for visiting my white wednesday. You should try a mosaic, I can just imagine those cute cow faces in one. Let me know if you make one, I would love to see it.

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  13. Hi Tracy,

    Thanks for leaving a comment on my blog -- I always enjoy getting feedback. :)

    Lovely cows. :)

    Currently, I have a little giveaway on my blog which is open until April 24.

    Greetings from Munich,
    Birgit

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous11:23 AM

    I LOVE this! What a great story and great pics... the cow's tongue~ I've always loved cows too, my grandparents had a farm with cows. I'm glad you weren't arrested for trespassing :-)

    Mary

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  15. I never saw so many cows in one place. You did a super job putting all this together. I am from the country and know all about cows. In fact, I have had to milk them.

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  16. LOL! You just never know where you'll find a great story and photos! I agree, cows are very sweet to look at...when they are as clean and pretty as these! Their eyes are mesmerizing!
    Have a beautiful weekend!
    ;-D Kathleen

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  17. It's me again. I went in and introduced you on my Pink Saturday post.

    So, you love cows and I live on a cattle ranch with 1200 of them. You would probably not love cow tongues so much if you got slimed by one every single day. I'm feeding an orphaned calf and she is the slobberiest one we've ever had. She escaped yesterday... long story. Anyway, I'll e-mail you a link so you can see her.

    Happy Pink Saturday!

    PS... I am either a countrified city girl or a citified country girl. I can't decide which!

    ReplyDelete

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