Monday 26 March 2007

The Gardeners Have Arrived



Yesterday Rafi G posted a small paragraph in his post about a web site promoting cows to be bought as house pets instead of dogs. It made me laugh as when we first moved here to our country house which is surrounded by paddocks full of cows, fresh from the city, Aaron was sitting outside one night in the dark having a cigarette (he has since given up smoking) when he asked me to turn the outside light on - 'I think we have cows in our backyard' he whispered. 'Don't be so ridiculous' I scoffed. After his persistence I went inside and turned on the outside flood light. Yep, he was right we had cows in our yard... not 1 or 2 cows but about 12 huge black cows! The all just stood there and looked at us wondering what we were going to do, they were really on edge - ready to freak out at any second and start running around in a mad panic.

We quietly slipped back inside to phone the farmer to ask him to come and get his cows ( remember it was in the middle of the night) - they couldn't stay in our yard, they were really skittish and that side of the house is mainly large glass windows - I was having visions of them freaking out and running through our sun-room!

Anyway, the farmer came over, asked us how they got in our yard - like as if we knew!! He calmly herded them back to the paddock.

That was about 4 years ago, it really hasn't happened since.... until this morning. When I got up to get the girls ready for school, we had cows in our yard, which I thought was quite strange since I had just read Rafi's article yesterday and since we haven't had cows in our yard for 4 years. The difference between 4 years ago and now is that we look at it a little bit differently - before we would have wanted them out as soon as possible, now, let them stay - they are good lawn mowers!! I wouldn't want them here all the time though!

Above: Ruby watching the cows in our yard.

Above: The cows in our yard this morning were only babies - but big anyway!


.... Just another day ....

6 comments:

LittleBirdies said...

Welcome back. I really missed reading your blog.
I understand some bloggers can be nasty, but it doesn't mean we all are.
Just know you were missed.

RaggedyMom said...

Even though I can't see it, I can just imagine the expression on Ruby's face!

RaggedyDad's mother and stepdad live in a town in Belgium where the houses and apartments are very closely interspersed with cow fields and kept horses. For a city girl like me, it's always a thrill to be in close proximity of real, live animals! (though NYC drivers come close)

Anonymous said...

I imagine it's a bit of a shock to see cows in your yard. I probably would have just stood there and watched and watched and watched. :)h

Baleboosteh said...

Littlebirdies: thankyou for your kind words, your comment means a lot :)

RaggedyMom: Lol! As you know, I am a city girl too, trust me, the novelty soon wears off! Especially in summer when you are surrounded by cow pats and 600 billion blow flys!

Marsha: It was a huge shock the first time! Since we have lived here though, we have had many different creatures in our backyard! :D

Rafi G. said...

I am prescient

Mia M said...

LOL - we had cows in our garden too, when we lived on the country side in Switzerland.... The problem was the had these huge bells around their necks and woke us up almost every night. The farmer refused to take of the bells.... long story short we moved after 4 years and the cows, the bells and the farmer are still there (18 years later).