In the mornings I pass a cow field belonging to a neighbour on the lane.
She has three new calves and they have names, I don’t know how wise that is when you plan to have them slaughtered and served up on a plate…
in fact the other night at Pizza the host brought a platter round announcing,
“Cheese and roasted jalapeño, with shredded Blanca.”
“What’s ‘blanca’?” someone asked.
“One of our neighbour’s cows.”
We all groaned!..
…but they’ve got a few more years of growing until it comes to that so…shhh
I call to each of them as I pass,
“Good morning Bella!” She has the beginnings of a white banded Galway and is the friendliest.
“Morning Bev!” Her markings reminded the owner of a Bev Doolittle print in my house…
“Speckled trees,” he said, “like her speckled neck and underbelly.”
“Hello Houdini!” Completely black, ring leader and escape artist extraordinaire!
She masterminded a runaway when they first arrived on the lane and they were gone for two days. They named her Houdini, certain she was a boy…it was her umbilical cord…Houdini stuck, girls can be feisty too and an electric fence is no match for her!
They were small when they first arrived and initially I could hardly see them when they were resting in the field.
Just little black ears sticking up over the tall grasses.
After a couple of months they had eaten all the grass down to stubble and their owners had to supplement with a hay bale.
Houdini and Bev lost no time on the welcome addition to their pasture.
The following morning it had been tractor-ed into the metal feeder, rolled into the pasture a few yards away, standing by.
Led by the maverick Houdini, they all managed to clamber into the metal feeder.
Is there a hidden gate that I can’t see?
It made me laugh;
I sent the image to their owners who explained,
“They only have a few more days in this lot, then they will be moved to a new pasture.”
This new pasture is a tract of land adjacent to their vineyard and their neighbours were more than happy to have their overgrown grassy field naturally ‘mowed’ by the friendly ‘pets’!
Maybe worth some jerky later…
I noticed it had also been electrically fenced, Houdini just cannot be trusted to stay put!
The grass is always greener!
Here they are huddled together in the morning shade,
and growing fast…beef jerky may not be such a long wait after all!
From L to R Houdini, Bella and Bev.
Well hello there! My name is Vivienne McNeny.
I am an empty nester exploring life as a Boomer…you could say I'm happily Boomering along!
As a homeschooling Mum I have finally quit the job of role model and mentor to my four children. I do what I want to do, eat when I feel like it, enjoy life with my blue eyed cowboy and clean my house once a month or so whether it needs it or not!
In true English form I write about the emergence of my true identity now that I can no longer hide behind my children as their Mum.
