A New Pet

Our cow--he is standing in my flower bed!

Today my boys headed out to ride their bikes, but came back in after just a few seconds to tell me there was a cow in our yard. Every year during the fall and winter, we have cows in the field next door. We love it. It makes us feel like we are living in the country even though we enjoy the benefits of the city. So I thought maybe the cows were just close by the fence, but I glanced out the window and saw the cow standing on the grass of our neighbor's yard across the street. Well, I wasn't exactly sure what to do. The owner of the field rents it out to people, so I didn't know who to call. There were no holes in the fence and I am not a good roper (in fact, we don't have any rope), so I called Animal Control.

He spent a lot of time near our basketball hoop.

About 15 minutes later, a police officer showed up. I talked to him for a brief second and he told me that he had a few people coming to take care of the cow. The policeman just sat in his car and if the cow started to venture down the road, he would either get out to scare the cow or flash his lights. We watched from inside the entire time. The poor cow was doing okay until all the other cows moved away from the fence to the middle of the field. Then he got upset and started mooing and running around a lot more. I also called Randy to tell him about it because he grew up on a farm. I told him what was going on and then mentioned it was a young cow, probably born in the spring, and that it was a bull. Then he said, "Are you sure?" because he wasn't sure I knew how to tell the difference. I'm pretty sure!

It's a boy!

About 45 minutes after we noticed the cow, two farmers came and took a look at the fence. Then one of them started walking behind the cow herding it around the corner while the other drove slowly in the truck. A few minutes later, we saw them open the gate on the other side and let the poor cow in. It was a great way to spend the afternoon.