Don't look now....

... but there are three cows in our yard. (And we don't own livestock.)

I just happened to see our outside cat Gatsby sticking his head through the slats of the railing around the porch..... that cat was stretching his neck out as far as it could go, and I couldn't figure out why. I walked to another room in the house to get a better view of the side yard, and that's when I saw the three cows. Oh my... no wonder Gatsby was over-stretching his neck. I don't think he's ever been that close to such big animals before.

My husband and I both went outside to shoo away the cows, who were on their way to the fountain out front to take a drink.  The fountain is not exactly built for cows, nor did I want the cows trying to get up on the porch.  On the way out the door, my husband grabbed his car keys, and I got the binoculars.  I looked further up our hill and saw that our friend J's gate was wide open..... which is how the cows escaped.  After living up here for nearly five years, you get to know which cows belong to which neighbor. I don't know the names of the breeds, but I do know which color cows belong on which pastures.

I got on the phone and called J........ and spent half a minute telling her what a beautiful day it was in the neighborhood before I broke the news that her cows had gotten out. Not exactly what she wanted to hear... she's had to chase those cows before, and they're not exactly her cows.... she leases the land to the owner of those cows.

So there I went into our yard, yelling at the cows to go home.... my husband got in his car and got behind the cows to prod them in the direction of their own pasture.... and somehow we got the cows halfway up the hill before J drove down in her truck.  By then, the cows had made a sharp right instead of a slight left and they ended up on another neighbor's property.

J drove through that wide-open gate, onto that neighbor's property, and managed to get two of the cows in front of her truck, and my husband blocked the road going towards our property with his car.... and there I stood, in front of two huge cows, telling them to Go home!  Just go home!

I must be out of my mind.  After the cows walked past me, I asked my husband if they could have knocked me down.  Those cows weigh about 1200 pounds each..... you do the math.

While we were herding the third cow back to its own pasture, neighbors J & J came home and they used their car to block their own driveway so the last cow wouldn't end up on the wrong property. J got out of the car and told me "Isn't this so much fun?!"   I had to disagree. I can think of at least one thousand ways to have more fun than standing in front of an enormous cow and telling her to Go home!

The cows are back where they belong now... their gate is secure, and hopefully, they won't be getting out anytime soon.  Friend J has already called the owner of those cows, telling him to come get his livestock at his earliest convenience because she's tired of chasing down his cows with her truck.

As you might have guessed, today's adventure wasn't exactly our first rodeo.