A Rough Start...to the Morning, Or Week...Or Anything

 I think bovine are simply beautiful.

T-Bone

 I especially think that Chelsea - with her beautiful coloring - is exquisite:

 And she is so sweet.  And Gentle.  And obedient.

And look at this graceful pose...I think she knew I was taking pictures:

I took a bunch of pictures of T-Bone and Chelsea when we were out back all day Saturday working on a project:

Jas in the background working away.

As beautiful as she is, I have to say that Chelsea hasn't done such a good job raising T-Bone.  He is decidedly not sweet.  Or gentle.  Or obedient!

A scar visible on T-Bone's nose from jumping over the barbed wire fence a couple weeks ago.

Monday Morning.

Bright and (kind of) early...about 9:30ish.

I'd already done some school with the big kids at the breakfast table before the two littles woke up.

And then, as I sat reading a picture book aloud to the A and G as he ate breakfast, I looked up from the table, out the front window, and lo and behold...there is T-Bone in our front yard. Lazily roaming and grazing.

Not. Good.


So I start (loudly) calling for big-kid help and I run outside.  And then there is Chelsea, also out of the pasture, right beside our driveway, in the path leading from the backyard to the front.

Not. Good.

I wasn't as worried about Chelsea (she isn't cray-cray like T-Bone), so I continued on to the front yard.

The children were able, in short order, to lure Chelsea back into the pasture with some sweet feed.

T-Bone - who also normally adores that sweet feed - doesn't give a hoot about it when he is out roaming (we found out the hard way a couple weeks ago), so no such luck with him.

This was hard when Jas was here...I did not know how the children and I were going to manage to get him back in the pasture!

I prayed audibly for the Lord's help and guidance.  He responded - quickly, I might add - by sending two of the migrant workers in the pecan orchard across from our property.  One spoke English and asked if they could help.

YES, please!   

Over the next 20-30 minutes (that felt much longer) T-Bone roamed/ran into the property next to ours, then across the street and into the pecan orchard, back to our frontyard, finally into our backyard, where I blocked him in by driving Jason's truck through the path from the driveway to the backyard (it is NOT wide enough for a vehicle, but we've done this twice in the last couple of weeks and it is quickly becoming wide enough), into the garden area, and then Noah drove Jason's truck into the same position by the fence/gate we had it a couple of weeks ago that blocks T-Bone and forces him back into the pasture.

And while last time T-Bone ended his jaunt by running/barreling back into the pasture....this time he didn't even have the courtesy to muster up anything more than a lackadaisical stroll back into the pasture.  It was very anti-climatic.

I went straight over and shook the two men's hands and the children and I thanked them profusely.  And then we bought them two large pizzas and sodas for lunch.


Jas raced home from work (alerted by Elisabeth...and one of our neighbors who drove by and asked how she could help)...and got here about 3 minutes after T-Bone was back in the pasture.  Jas walked around to all the gates and checked the chains and nails that keep them closed.  One was just loose enough to allow yesterday's shenanigans.  So, on his lunch break Jas went to Lowes and loaded up with really thick chain and new fasteners.  As soon as he got home he installed all the new hardware on all four gates.  Those cows are not going anywhere again...at least not through the gates.

And hopefully T-Bone will forget that he can jump over the barbed wire when properly motivated.