Peevish Pen

Ruminations on reading, writing, genealogy and family history, rural living, retirement, aging—and sometimes cats.

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Location: Rural Virginia, United States

I'm an elderly retired teacher who writes. Among my books are Ferradiddledumday (Appalachian version of the Rumpelstiltskin story), Stuck (middle grade paranormal novel), Patches on the Same Quilt (novel set in Franklin County, VA), Them That Go (an Appalachian novel), Miracle of the Concrete Jesus & Other Stories, and several Kindle ebooks.

Monday, December 02, 2013

Greener Grass?

My husband and I check our farm down the road a few times every day. Lately we've encountered a neighbor's calves that escape from their pasture on an almost daily basis—well, at least three times in as many days. We've found it's pretty easy to herd them home by a combination of honking, yelling, and arm waving. This is how the herding went this evening:


First we encountered two bull-calves who apparently thought the grass was greener across the road from their pasture. We honked and yelled them into moving toward home. We figured the others were not far away, and it didn't take long to catch up to them.


Soon another appeared.


Maybe they thought they had us out-numbered. Anyhow, they turned to face us.


More yelling and honking ensued. The herd moved out again.


They even picked up speed.


But stopped again. More honking, etc. This time I had to get out of the car and yell at them directly. They listened politely and no doubt considered their options.


Finally, the herd decided to head for home. Maybe they thought the greener grass wasn't worth the hassle of honking and yelling.


They knew exactly where the low place in the fence was.


And they went through.


Soon they were home again. 


And, in a few minutes, so were we. On the deck I discovered something else that needed herding: a possum. 


That possum could move almost as fast as the calves—and I didn't have to yell nearly as much.
~

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