Prodigal cows...

... along with one old and stubborn bull.

So there I was earlier this afternoon, pulling up to our mailbox after having been in town doing errands all morning.   I glanced up the road and saw four cattle and an old blue truck.  First thought that came to mind was that neighbor L had lost his cows again..... either his cows or his goats are forever getting out of his fields. Not that big a problem for L, because between that old truck of his and his two herding dogs, he gets the cattle back onto his property fairly quickly.

But then I looked again.... definitely a blue truck up the road, but... I see someone running after the cows with a broomstick...... and that person is wearing blue capris.  Definitely not neighbor L, plus I didn't see any dogs up there..... just a woman with a broomstick.

And that's when the little country-light-bulb went on....... that blue truck was my friend JS's.... and there were no dogs up there on the road herding those cows.  JS does have a tiny Chihuahua but she hadn't mentioned anything about teaching Bella to chase cows.

Up the road I drove, all the while wondering if that big old bull up there would come charging after my city-girl car.  I was hoping the silver-blue color of my little car wouldn't upset that bull any more than he already was.

I pulled my car into the center of the road, hoping that the cows wouldn't try to pass it... not even thinking that there was plenty of grassy areas on both sides of the narrow road that they could have used to get past me..... and that's what the cows were interested in--- all that tall grass.  The bull didn't even lift his head up from his grazing, and he wasn't upset at all... he was just pulling up the grass in big chunks, not even paying attention to J and her broomstick.

Two of the cows ran onto J & J's property, and I used my cell phone to call them for help..... they were in town having lunch.  Lunch?  How can they calmly eat lunch while JS is out there running around the road with a broomstick?   Before I had a chance to put my cell phone back in my purse, one of the other neighbors came driving down the road in his truck..... he stopped to ask me what the problem was.  I resisted the urge to ask him if JS with a broomstick constituted a 'problem.'

When I told him what happened.... that the wind had blown JS's gate open and the cattle got out, he told me that he'd go and get a bucket of corn to lure the cows back to their own field.  And that's exactly what he did.... which was an easy chore for three of the cattle because Donna Quixote's threats with the broomstick had them back in front of their own gate. Just one of the cows ran in the other direction and ended up on still another neighbor's property. 

By that time, the first three cattle were back inside JS's gate.... the neighbor with the bucket of corn and JS were in their trucks and headed towards rounding up the last cow.  I turned my own car around and drove back down the hill towards home.  Except for a smashed cow-pattie on one of my front tires, my sweet little car was just fine.

Strange coincidence.... while I was in town this morning, I ordered four new tires for my car which will be put on next week.  I think I just might tell JS that this city-girl decided to change all four tires because of the cow-pattie mess from that big old stubborn bull.