What's moo with you?

Lesson #1 for today: Just because you have no cows on your property, don't take it for granted that you have no cows on your property.

My husband was in the backyard pulling up these crazy pointed star-shaped weeds that will grow three feet tall with thorny points up and down their leaves.... the cats were all outside... and I was in the kitchen taking dishes out of the dishwasher.

And what did I hear all at once? My husband dropping the shovel and the bucket on the walkway in the courtyard and all three cats running across the porch. The sounds were just so loud that I went right out the kitchen door and stood near the steps leading down from the porch. Each of the three cats had tails as big as brushes, and Mickey especially had eyes as big as saucers. All three cats and my husband were looking towards the front of the house. My husband said to me "Turn around and look behind you."

Silly me. I did just that. My husband said I screamed out OH MY GOD!!!!! Right there near the side porch was a cow. A huge brown cow, looking straight at me. Thankfully, the cow was on the lawn and not on the porch. I started moving towards the cats, my husband started moving towards the cow. The cats ran underneath the back porch steps, the cow sort of sauntered around the gazebo, through the flowers around the pecan trees, and just meandered around the side yard as if he lived here. (Please refer to today's lesson #1.)

As my husband got closer to the cow, the cow walked closer to the road... and then the cow started walking quickly down the hill, which gave my husband time to get into his car and follow the cow down the road, hoping to get it back into the neighbor's field. I ran into the garage and got a length of rope, in case my husband needed it to lead the cow back where it belonged.

While all of that was going on, our neighbors J & J were out in their front field and saw the cow in our yard, so they drove down in their car. By that time, my husband had pulled his car to the side of the road and was walking behind that cow again-- the cow had left the road and went into our front pasture, walking past our pond and towards the neighbor's field in back of our pasture behind our barn. So there's my husband, walking behind the cow, and there's our neighbor J, walking towards the cow from the other side of our pasture. Between them both, they cornered the cow right up near the gate leading to its own pasture near the furthest part of our property.

While I was watching them get the cow into the corner, Mickey and Sweet Pea came out from their hiding places and seemed to be watching the cow-show out in the pasture. Our outside cat Gatsby was up on the back porch, fast asleep again. (Been there, seen that.) Mickey got up close to my foot and started to meow (his signal for me to pick him up). So there was Mickey, cuddled up in my arms, watching my husband and the neighbor try to trick the cow into walking into the corner.

I brought both Mickey and Sweet Pea into the house and they slept for three hours. Neither one of them has gone to the back door and meowed to go out. I think, especially for Mickey, that cow was just too close for kitty-comfort. And, judging by my scream (which my husband said was priceless, and he's been repeating all day long) I would guess that the cow was also too close for my own comfort. And there I was, standing in the backyard with a bright yellow rope in my hand, expecting my husband to lasso that cow and lead it back to its own field. (Isn't that what they did on Bonanza?)

The cows always look so slow and peaceful when we watch them from a distance. But right up close by our porch, with its head not that far away from you, and the cow seemed to be as huge as an elephant.

Country living... Peaceful. Serene. Quiet. Uneventful. You must be kidding.