At not quite midnight. "Why are there cows on the lawn?"
"Cows? What cows?" (The cows are all but a couple indoors).
"Well, heifers then, it's dark, I can't see what they are, but they are all over the lawn.
"Must be the heifers off the hill pasture. All right, your dad is still up and dressed and I'll be right down."
Rustle from the bed beside me. "Oh, wait, he's not up after all. I never heard him come upstairs."
Race downstairs...well, gimp and limp...as fast as we can. Throw Jade's Carhartt on over my robe and sweats. (Thanks Jade, it is really warm.) Add rubber boots, umbrella and flashlight. Good to go.
My main contribution was to tell the guys I think there are seven of them to find and hold the flashlight. Actually there are supposed to be eight, but we couldn't really count them in the dark and rain anyhow.
Thanks to their instinct to stick in a herd, unless we missed the stupid Jerseys, any that didn't get caught in the round up will be standing by the gate waiting to be let in. The two Jerseys are the most Godawful bunch quitters I have ever seen. Whenever I do a head count, there will be the requisite number of black and white ones, two bright red milking shorthorns and no little brown cows.
Anyhow, we are not sorry the boy got laid off for a week and stopped off at his girl friend's place on his way home from Jersey and the Big City. His timing was perfect. The escapees were just heading down the driveway when he arrived and stopped them with his truck.
***Photos are still from the Friday bird count. We sure are lucky to have such pretty territory to count over.
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