Cow Patties at Midnight - and other amazements
from the Months of February and March.2008

Saturday evening, after coming home from a baby shower in the "big city" - we drove home after dark to find a large number of cows loose on the road around our house.

 

Some were smack dab in the middle of the road and weren't at all bothered that we needed to get around them so we could drive home.  But it's when we got out of our car at home that the real fun began!  
We heard the plaintive moooooooing of about 10 - 12 cows trapped behind our pond in the muddy woods.  Their miserable cries really tugged at your heart - and we had no idea what to do - since it was dark. We could hear them trampling around over the fallen limbs, and they sounded huge and dangerous to me.  Charlie tried to convince me there are no killer cows. :) As we were standing out there wondering, we saw a cow meander up behind us and our dogs (3 of them) quickly got her herded over with the rest of them.  Then we saw what had gone on.  The dogs - in their innate herding wisdom - had taken every cow they could find and gathered them behind our pond where they could keep an eye on them.  Problem was - that was no where near the road where they needed to be!

 

. . . terrified eyeballs in the dark.  Now for someone who has never had anything larger than a dog on the place - this was a bit unsettling!  Don't laugh.  We deal with rabbits and raccoons.  I saw a feral hog once and even a fox. We've had a few snakes.  But 12 scared cows out of nowhere was a bit shocking!  
. . . and a few more

  
Annie - with her tail in full attack mode.  Well, yes - she is walking AWAY from the cows - but I'm sure she's still totally protecting us.   :)

Turns out there were at least 50 head let loose from the pasture across the street from us.  It appears it was intentional - we still aren't sure what the deal is.

 

  
PS and FYI - Interested in a one of a kind gift? A farmer from Poteet, Texas is producing Cow Patty Pens - yep - you guessed it.  It's the real deal.  He claims he feeds his cows pen kits and he goes out each morning to collect the finished product.  Here's a picture that's linked to his story in case you need to know more!    
It also snowed here last week just a little.  I hadn't woken up to seeing snow on the ground in 20 years - and Robin had never seen it.  Snow sure makes everything beautiful - even ugly old cedar trees.  Robin had her first taste of snow ice cream.

 
It really looks like a winter wonderland!  
The ducks were loving it - cold doesn't bother them.  Their internal temperatures are 107 - and if it gets bitterly cold, they swim alternately with one foot tucked under them to warm it - and then switch.  We've seen them swimming around with half the pond covered in ice.  
After nearly 2 weeks in the hospital - Mom was finally able to come home.  Stacy and I had a wonderful visit with she and Dad.  We all laughed a lot and shared some great memories.  We are going again in a week.  Mom is really up and down in how she is feeling - and I know she's ready to be HOME with her Father.  She has shared some wonderful insights about Him with me over the past few weeks.  I wish our visits weren't so short!

These are their dogs - Mom has Susu, Dad has Missy and Stacy has Butch.

  
Here's the human members of the family . . .  

1.  It was kinda funny.  Two weeks ago (Saturday) Mom went from being in the hospital on STRICT orders not to move from the bed without nurses' assistance, due to her unsteady walking and vertigo. . . to . .
 

Here was the sign outside her room.

 2.  The next day, Sunday, she was home - using her really cool walker, carrying the mail, a cup of coffee and walking all over the house. :)  The nurses would have killed her! 

Not all of her days are this good - but we cherish those that are.

  
One more and I'm done.  We got our first goose egg! After having some serious gender confusion on our pond (African geese cannot be sexed just by looking at them so we have been buying our gander boyfriends for years. :) We always found it odd he/she attacked them so ferociously whenever we introduced them to the pond.)  We finally ordered some goslings from a breeder and so we were sure of just who we were getting.  :)

A goose egg is 3x the size of a chicken egg. Here's one for comparison. Obviously the dogs brought it up to the house to show us. We aren't sure if we can keep the dogs from eating the eggs until the gal-goose decides to start setting.  I think they feel it's a good payment for the long winter of protection from the owls and coyotes. :) It's a dog all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet around the pond every morning.

  

God's order and diversity continues to inspire and amaze us. 
He definitely has 'the whole world in His hands."  
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.  Psalms 150 
and
If you know me, you know I love quotes.  Here's one from my dad:

"Every time an old person dies, a library burns."
Wow - how true is that?