animal escape artists

Those two don't even look guilty, do they? You wouldn't realize they were running around the neighborhood, terrorizing folks, at 7 A.M.

I was in the middle of my bowl of Fiber One when the doorbell sounded. Now, anytime someone shows up at my door that early, I know they won't likely be bearing good news.

It was Farmer John, from down the road, asking if I had some cows out; someone had called him saying a couple of cows were loose on my dead-end road. He'd counted his cattle and they were all there.

I heard dogs barking furiously up the highway, and common sense told me that's where my two runaways had to be. I made a quick gate check and found the problem. Cliff and I can neither one figure out how the gate behind the barn got opened in the direction it was found, but with my druggie neighbors, you never know who's been messing around. Anyhow, I thanked the good Lord that Secret is a pet, and that I recently put a halter on her. I grabbed a rope and headed in the direction of the barking dogs.

One grumpy old guy hollered, "You missing a Jersey and an Angus?"

"Yeah, only he's not an Angus."

"Boy, you got trouble," he said, shaking his head. "They're about three houses down. How'd they get out?"

All this in a tone that implied only an idiot or a criminal would let her cows get out.

The two juvenile delinquents were in a back yard driving a pen-full of dogs nuts; there was quite an audience of neighbors watching, as though they'd never seen cows on the loose.

I walked up to Secret, snapped the rope onto her halter, and led her home, with Meatloaf following at her heels. Then I went to check the horses.

Ah yes, they were in the distance, grazing. But would you believe that not two hours later, they broke into the calves' pen? Geesh. I think we now have all gates secured.

We do have liability insurance on the livestock, just because of days like this.


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