That was my reaction when I arrived at our place to return Daddy's ladder to the barn.
Captain Abe, Socks, Strawberry, and the two calves were in the yard!!
As it turns out, the footgate on the east side of the yard was standing open because the fence along that side was pushed in. I'm glad that I hadn't fed them either yesterday morning or this morning, because when Daddy left, he left about a third of a bag of feed over there. I went in to get it (going through the backdoor rather than the garage) and ended up fixing the toilet in the back bathroom--I guess it'd been sitting there running since Saturday morning. The float valve is somewhat flaky.
I brought the feed out. I was slightly nervous about this--remember, my bull has horns--and really the only time he gets 'silly' is when there's feed about. ('Silly' means he puts his head down and shakes it a little and maybe hops a bit.) Anyway, he did start to be slightly silly...I am totally impressed by what a good animal he is!! I turned and looked at him and yelled, "Now, quit that!" And you know what? He did!
By this point, Socks came trotting up--she's a nut about food and not near as obedient as Abe. I led them through the gate, dumped the feed, and hurried out. Since the fence had been pushed in, the barb wire 'latch' was no longer long enough. I managed to get it hooked just enough to hold it while I rushed off to the pick-up and grabbed some wire and the wire pliers. (So glad I didn't toss the wire out before I left the house!) I eyeballed the length I needed, then cut the wire and wired the gate shut. Meanwhile, Socks and Strawberry had to come see what I was doing--or more honestly, if I had anymore feed in that sack... :D
Once I got the gate wired, I shoved the fence back upright--to a degree. It took longer than it initially sounds, but I got it done. I used the old gate wire and wired a chunk of the chainlink back to the top pole.
THEN...I finally got around to putting the ladder back in the barn.
I hit the road headed for town after that...off to the feedstore! I needed sweet feed for the heifers, feed for the chickens, and mineral for the rest of the cows.
I rode Snip this morning; he bucked with me again, but I stayed on and hauled him in (so far, he hasn't managed to throw me...I don't really think he's trying to, either...I think he's just being frisky). I also figured out how to carry better. See, with my new saddle, the pistol doesn't stay quite as well as with the other one...so my brain got to working. I took some nylon rope (I called Savannah and asked her to bring it out to me), wound it through the holster, and tied it down to my leg. (I finally figured out why all the movie/TV cowboys always had their holsters tied to their legs.) It worked great! I still had to take it off before I could get Snip's right front hoof cleaned (it always gets in the way--particularly since he leans on me so hard with that leg), but the riding part was much more practical.
During the writing of this, Savannah called me from the Winn-Dixie parking lot asking me to come get her. She had been trying to get the Saturn started for 40 minutes. So, I jumped in the truck (which also needs work) and picked her up. While coming home, after dropping into AutoZone, we decided that I'll take the pick-up to Tex in the morning and she'll call the Saturn place in P.C. for a new ignition switch.
Those were the 'exciting' parts of my day...the rest was just normal.
Captain Abe, Socks, Strawberry, and the two calves were in the yard!!
As it turns out, the footgate on the east side of the yard was standing open because the fence along that side was pushed in. I'm glad that I hadn't fed them either yesterday morning or this morning, because when Daddy left, he left about a third of a bag of feed over there. I went in to get it (going through the backdoor rather than the garage) and ended up fixing the toilet in the back bathroom--I guess it'd been sitting there running since Saturday morning. The float valve is somewhat flaky.
I brought the feed out. I was slightly nervous about this--remember, my bull has horns--and really the only time he gets 'silly' is when there's feed about. ('Silly' means he puts his head down and shakes it a little and maybe hops a bit.) Anyway, he did start to be slightly silly...I am totally impressed by what a good animal he is!! I turned and looked at him and yelled, "Now, quit that!" And you know what? He did!
By this point, Socks came trotting up--she's a nut about food and not near as obedient as Abe. I led them through the gate, dumped the feed, and hurried out. Since the fence had been pushed in, the barb wire 'latch' was no longer long enough. I managed to get it hooked just enough to hold it while I rushed off to the pick-up and grabbed some wire and the wire pliers. (So glad I didn't toss the wire out before I left the house!) I eyeballed the length I needed, then cut the wire and wired the gate shut. Meanwhile, Socks and Strawberry had to come see what I was doing--or more honestly, if I had anymore feed in that sack... :D
Once I got the gate wired, I shoved the fence back upright--to a degree. It took longer than it initially sounds, but I got it done. I used the old gate wire and wired a chunk of the chainlink back to the top pole.
THEN...I finally got around to putting the ladder back in the barn.
I hit the road headed for town after that...off to the feedstore! I needed sweet feed for the heifers, feed for the chickens, and mineral for the rest of the cows.
I rode Snip this morning; he bucked with me again, but I stayed on and hauled him in (so far, he hasn't managed to throw me...I don't really think he's trying to, either...I think he's just being frisky). I also figured out how to carry better. See, with my new saddle, the pistol doesn't stay quite as well as with the other one...so my brain got to working. I took some nylon rope (I called Savannah and asked her to bring it out to me), wound it through the holster, and tied it down to my leg. (I finally figured out why all the movie/TV cowboys always had their holsters tied to their legs.) It worked great! I still had to take it off before I could get Snip's right front hoof cleaned (it always gets in the way--particularly since he leans on me so hard with that leg), but the riding part was much more practical.
During the writing of this, Savannah called me from the Winn-Dixie parking lot asking me to come get her. She had been trying to get the Saturn started for 40 minutes. So, I jumped in the truck (which also needs work) and picked her up. While coming home, after dropping into AutoZone, we decided that I'll take the pick-up to Tex in the morning and she'll call the Saturn place in P.C. for a new ignition switch.
Those were the 'exciting' parts of my day...the rest was just normal.
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