Of Cows and Snow

It is snowing, again.

That seems to be the trend this winter, periods of snow and bitter cold interspersed with beautiful warm weather. No recent snow has topped that first one, fortunately. We are, hopefully, finished with cows, all but for the feeding of. After the last snow we, the guys and Cowboy Bill, got to wean calves. I had to stay in the house and watch The Goblin Child, dang what a shame.

The next day in what was supposed to have been forty degree weather we, me included, brought the last of the cattle home from summer pasture. Thanks to my loving husband and trainer extraordinaire Paula I got to take a horse!!  I invited Paula because she lives next door to the pasture and I thought she would enjoy a cow moving with such a short drive, next door is all relative of course. She offered to drive clear down and pick me and a horse up and then drive clear back. The hope had been that with the nice weather the child could ride on the four wheeler in front of her father. It was nineteen degrees that morning. So much for planning. My cow hating husband volunteered to wait in the pick up with the child, such sacrifice.

We, I at least, had a blast. Coyote thinks he’s a four wheeler anyway and with the very brisk morning he was off and going. I meant to ask Paula if the blistering pace, I think Coyotes fastest trot counts as blistering, was all right for her but he was already going and she starts colts I figured she would think the question was silly. It was to cold to bother with bits, I rode in my halter and she in a hack, slowing wasn’t much of an option anyway.

The plan was to drive them down the road to a neighbors corrals where they would be loaded on the semis to haul them home. I was all for driving them the whole way but nobody else wanted to push cattle all day in strong wind and  twenty degree weather, it had warmed up considerably by then.

The cattle came in easy and the short drive down the road to corrals was cold but pleasant. The one thing Coyote enjoys in life is chasing cows, he is so fun to ride. On arrival at the corrals I found my hard working husband standing by the pick up door keeping an eye on The Goblin Child as she played joyously at the wheel pushing every button and pulling levers.

As soon as we left to gather the cattle the owner of the borrowed corrals had arrived with a load of panels that needed set up to make the corrals functional. Waiting behind in the pick up my child watching husband was the only one available to help. The work involved in the cattle and watching the child at the same time can be difficult to manage. Trying to do everything at once, he left the child playing in the pick up, parked right next to where he was working so he could keep an eye on her while she stayed warm.

It worked nicely until he came to retrieve her. In her button pushing she had locked the doors. In his rush to get all the work done he had forgotten the keys in the ignition, so there they sat. I got to continue playing with the cattle, helping load the semi’s, while he watched her and waited for different set of keys to be brought. All in all it was a good day and we got to hear everybody elses story of the time they lock their child in the car.