Wednesday, November 05, 2008

Cows


My neighbor, Ramone, has owned the property next to me since the early 60's. Ramone worked for the railroad and lived in town for many years, but he kept cattle out on his land and about twenty years ago he finally built a house out here. When he was in his 30's he built the fence around his pasture from trees he cut down along the river bank.
Over the years the fence has begun to sink and sag and fall and sway and break and crumble and, well, deteriorate.



Ramone has an interesting way of mending fences.


He uses whatever he has on hand. He has a lot of orange bailing twine on hand.



He also has boards and poles and odd scraps of metal and blocks of concrete and broken gates and a Volkswagen Van. All these things are crucial to his fence mending.


But, no matter how much orange bailing twine Ramone ties on the bits of wire that he calls a fence....



his cows manage to get out everyday. At least four cows are in my yard all day. It used to startle me to walk out and see these beasts grazing on my lawn.


But, now I just look at them and they look at me. I try to move them to areas where I'd like a little grass trimming done.


But, they don't listen me. So, eventually Preacher, my dog, and I walk them back into the pasture, over the orange bailing twine and around the Volkswagen Van and through the bits of wire and poles and concrete blocks. The cows look at me and I look at them and we say, "Okay, same time tomorrow? Yep, see ya tomorrow."

19 comments:

Jenni said...

Too funny. I think. I'm not sure what I'd do if my neighbor's cows wound up in our yard. I might freak out. I haven't dealt with cows before.

Last week on my way home from running errands I noticed there was a young buffalo in the pasture across the street. I thought about taking pictures, but I was busy. And I was worried that fence wasn't good enough for keeping a buffalo in. Cows yes. Buffalo, maybe. The neighbor next to the pasture told Danny that the buffalo just showed up and four more just showed up down at the feed lot a mile further on. Jo said one of her friends from school emailed her to ask whose horse had been killed by one of the buffalo. Apparently not one of ours. I haven't seen the buffalo that was in the pasture, so maybe they found the owner. Still no word on whose horse was killed or if that was just a rumor.

Rhea said...

hahaha I love it! How funny. I love your neighbor's fixit methods. What a goofball!

I love cows. They do just sort of look at ya and chew. That's about it.

Loved this post. My dog would probably freak out if she met some cows. lol

Linda said...

Didn't you say you wanted a cow of your own? I would think it only neighborly to at least get some good steaks out of the deal.

I've been looking at the Dexter cows ... I really want one! I was thinking I could work out a deal with my town neighbors ... my cow mows their lawn, I make them homemade yogurt and cheese!

Updated by Lila Huggins (grandmother) said...

Hi,
I was wondering if this had a "double" meaning? Considering the state of the fence and the state of our country. LOL

Miss Lila in Atlanta

A Bite of Country Cupcakes said...

Oh I can soo relate to that one...Not so much the orange twine but the cow in the Yard though,In fact I just blogged it too ,A post ago on my blog!!
I do love cows though,And yep if you need to keep the lawns down you are all set!
Funny post April

Unknown said...

Hey, maybe next time just keep them buggers on your property and claim them as your own.
What a fence job!! Bailing twine? Now I've seen everything!

Amy said...

Sweet! A two for one deal! You get your grass trimmed AND fertilized...and you get to have your cows without actually having to do the maintenance part! Well, aside from the walking them back part.
That fencing job is a hoot! My FIL would have a heart attack - he's anal about his fences. Next time I'll just suggest bailing twine and maybe an old fridge door or something! Heehee!

Anonymous said...

You are a good neighbor, April. Hope it doesn't get too bad that it becomes annoying as I don't think Ramone is going to change his ways of mending fences. :) Margie

Sharon said...

And do you wait for the cow patties to dry to fling of the same fence?

Jean Martha said...

Love it!!

I grew up across the street from an enormous dairy farm. I remember when I was 16 and just learning to "officially" drive - one of the cows decided to push up against the car as I was trying to get out of the driveway. I thought she was going to topple it. I was terrified! LOL

Sandy said...

This is hilarious! Thanks for making me laugh. -Sandy

Leila said...

Don't you love not caring about how the fence looks or whether your neighbor's property is wandering into your yard?
Sure beats stressing out about dumb stuff in the suburbs!

Melody said...

There ain't nothin' you can't do without bailing twine and duct tape! ;-)

Melody said...

Wait..maybe I had too many negatives in that sentence, let me try again:

There ain't nothin' you can't do with bailing twine and duct tape! ;-) (Did I get it right that time?!)

Oh for heaven's sake! Just have bailing twine and duct tape on hand and you can do anything. There!

jean said...

Think of all the money you are saving with their fertilizer. Of course, stepping in it probably isn't that great. Gross. If a cow showed up here people would freak out. A deer causes a scene.

Nina Diane said...

I love that......funny!

hayseed said...

We used to live beside a fellow who had the same fencing philosophy as Ramone. His goats were always on our lawn. After a while, we just got used to it. It was kind of fun, really. Goats and little black pigs. Fun times.

Anonymous said...

Oh.. wonderful... free four-legged lawn mowers...

DesertHen said...

We currently have five cows wandering around one of our alfalfa fields. They came off the mountain, across the cattle-guard and right into the farm. Hubby chased them out once, then left on a seven day trip....they came back. I chased them or tried to chase them out, but they turned around and chased me...I was on the 4-wheeler at the time. Range cows can be so...well, rangy!! Needless to stay, they are still in the field, very happy and they will stay there until Hubby runs them out!!