Cow Crazy

We got up before the sun today, no gentleman rancher hours for us, and had our coffee and prayer time and headed out without any breakfast. It was overcast and cold and looked like rain. We went to load up the last of the reject cows and Sweet Dora gave me soulful look and suggested we keep her. She is young and comely and who cares if she is having her calf late, at least she is having one. But on second thought, I said, "nope, let's just stick with the plan". We got to the auction yard and as they were sorting through our cattle and calves they wanted to know why we were getting rid of #6, Sweet Dora, as she was nice and worth keeping. She gave me the I told you so look and she was loaded back into the trailer. We decided we had just enough time to get home, unload, and then get back in time for the auction; a two and half hour round trip. Then our truck died. Gave up the ghost. Left us stranded with one cow alongside the road. We got the truck going only to have it die again. This time with a guard rail on one side and no shoulder. She started. Yippee. And then after a short stroll died again. We were limping back home very slowly. Mark figured it was the fuel filter or something or another that I know nothing about and we were low on fuel so we found a man willing to sell us some and Mark drained something or another and we headed up the hill. By this time Eric was coming down to help us and as we wanted to go back to the auction to see how things went, we unhooked the trailer alongside the road and Eric and Jo finished the job of taking Dora home. By this time Sweet Dora was curled up cozy in the thick ooze that filled the bottom of the truck. She had had enough of slipping around. Poor thing. What a day. Well, truck died again on the way back to the auction, but she started again too. We jerked into the auction yard and I got ditched there while Mark went to take the truck to the mechanics shop. I had to sit through all of my sweet cows being sold. The auction guys teased me a bit about wanting to know my cows names and such. The really blessed thing was that our calves did very well, and ours cows didn't do bad either. I feel like I should send thank you's out to the buyers like my kids did in 4-H. I really appreciate them. It looks like I can pay the bills for a few months at least. And I believe that 3 of the cows are going to be living a while longer as cows. The others...... well you might eat them someday at McD's. Just kidding. More like Carl Jr's. Honestly though, it is very difficult for me to raise the cows and then later have them go off to slaughter. I may joke a bit about it, but I love these cows. Thank you cows for your life of service to me and my family. I appreciate all that you do. Even when you chase me every once in a while, and blow snot in my face when I try to give you your vitamins. It's all good.