Adventure in the evening

Cliff and I went to the State Fair today.  That's a story in itself.  But after we got home and rested awhile, I figured I'd better go check on Bonnie and her baby, since this was their first day out in the big pasture together.  As soon as I stepped outside I knew something was amiss, because there was Bonnie, without her calf, bawling her head off at me.  I knew instantly that little Max had fallen into one of our many deep ravines.  
Bonnie led me to the edge of a canyon (who said cows are stupid?) and started bellowing insistently.  I heard her calf answer her from the pit.  
I went to the other side of the gully where it isn't so steep, so I could assess the situation.  Going down that steep slope I reminded myself that I have an artificial knee, and I hung onto brush and tree-roots for support.  Finally I spotted the calf and knew there was no choice but to go get Cliff.  

Yeah, I wasn't scaling THAT wall.  I thought maybe Cliff could fashion some sort of sling out of an old blanket, put it around the calf's belly, and drag him out with a tractor.  

Cliff followed me back to the ditch and pondered the mess.  


He then decided that a sling wasn't the best idea.  He said if we drove the calf back down the ditch a little way, we could probably help him climb up the slope where it wasn't straight up and down.

  Bonnie the Jersey cow cheered us on from above, peering over the cliff and bellowing so loud and often, we couldn't think.  


Cliff got the calf headed up that steep, slippery incline.  At one point he (Cliff) couldn't get his footing, so he grabbed Max's tail with both hands and poor little Max pulled him the rest of the way up the hill, right through some thorn-bushes.  

All's well that ends well.