While we rarely travel we are lucky to have family periodically come visit. This holiday season they trickled through a family or two at a time. It was a great way to spread out the cousin fun. One of the unintentional yet necessary traditions is some kind of work project. The men in this family are not good at sitting casually visiting. They are not content resting inside. They are most often found working long and late in all kinds of weather and circumstances on interesting and helpful projects.
Example I got my windows sealed properly and the molding put on by an enterprising brother in-law. Another one replaced my leaking faucet! Yeah to both projects.
The day after Christmas Greg stayed home and decided that we should get some cows we had purchased a month earlier. Important details- about 4 inches of snow was on the ground with ice underneath, it was about 15 degrees and we had cousins here. Oh and Greg Never Quits once he starts something. Ever, no matter WHAT happens!! And his brothers Matt and Kevin were here working on siding my in-laws house.
So we went to the hobbled together farm to retrieve the cows. They were wild-eyed and skittish from the moment we saw them. They were running in a mucky large pen not comfortable at all with the presence of strangers or any humans in their space. After pushing them towards the improvised runway between their pen and the trailer they were almost in the trailer when they blew past Harold and cousin Conner both larger boys- and headed for a open field. We only saw them round the corner of a shed and then they disappeared. No trees or coverage just fast feet getting out of entrapment.
The helpers loaded up in a pickup and went to look for them. It was slick and snowy so one couldn't just hurry after.
WE spread out down the road they had traveled in hope of chasing them back to their original pen, but after to sweeps of the road they were never to be found there.
Greg happened to notice one in a feedlot munching among the steers. We had to go and ask the owner if he could help us get our two heifer (girl) cows from his herd of 300. He was having a bad day- tractors not working because of the cold, flat tires etc. but he kindly took an hour and demonstrated the worth of solid pens and gates. I'd never witnessed a feedlot but wow!!! All the work of digging post holes and pounding fences was amazing. Two guys moved and sorted those 300 cows without touching them, and without a ton of effort. It was beautiful. Like a symphony played by master musicians.
We got the wild beasts home about 4 hours after we had left. They were kicking the trailer and slightly irritated at being confined. The cousins, kids and Greg worked on our 2 strand barb wire open making sure it was tight and ready.
I went to visit with sister-in-laws telling the story. About halfway through the telling I noticed two cows trotting briskly down our gravel road. Oh no!! I hurried into my coat to "help" my husband. (help means, reminding him to keep his cool and not kill anything)
Walking across a cornstalk field dotted with frozen hoof holes and stalks is a hard way to chase wild cows. I watched Greg try and try to turn those cows. They would not be headed for nothing. He ran them over, he ran them around, he pushed them with the 4wheeler and they continued to head away. Finally deciding to divide and conquer he got the easier of the two turned toward home and turned it over to his brothers as soon as he got close to them . After seeing his tactic of bringing one home at a time. I hurried back with 7 kids to rebuild the holding pen that the last wild cow had jumped over a few months ago. In the dark with baling string and frozen bodies we worked as best as we could.
We heard the grumbling shouting wranglers slowly coming our way. Matt had bulldogged the cow and got a rope around it's neck. Then they lashed that to the 4 wheeler and were slowly dragging pulling it toward the trailer. It was snowy which was a blessing and curse.
The two brothers, a sick kind brother in-law, and my mother in-law as the cool headed guide. They got that cow into the front section of the trailer and the boys brought water. Matt and Kevin rushed off to help Greg chase the other wilder cow.
I took the boys to chores to feed the domestic cows that are raised here on the farm. A while later Greg came back to get the trailer. I went with him to try to keep him calm.
The brothers came walking out of a neighbors field instructing us to drive in and bring the trailer that the cow was caught but totally unwilling to come anywhere. We drove on the hard frozen ground halfway though the neighbors field. And that cow was mad. She charged anyone in her line of sight. She snorted and reared and kicked. They determined they needed two ropes one to keep her restrained and the other to winch her into the trailer. Greg went for rope and I stayed to hold the flashlight!
These guys are amazing! My admiration for these he-men grows as I watch them work together. It is a great equalizer and bonding time to chase cows. Really I mean it was miserable cold, dark, and a bit unnerving being charged again and again by an angry bovine but really who needs action movies and lethargy when you can ride like the wind and outwit a wild beast?
They of course got the cow in the trailer and there was even a water container already in her stall. So the door was slammed and we quietly drove home.
I love how my husband's family supports each other through hard projects. Really we're not so much into Disneyland but man come help us remodel, do harvest, or some other work project and the only problem is is there enough work to do?
They have each other's back. There is real emotion, real muscle, and real determination. I hope my kids learn to have the resolve of their father. I told them he never quits, and I hope they learn to never quit too.
Another family day in the books. And no one was hurt even the cows. When we finally opened the trailer 5 days later those awnry beast trotted off like they owned the world.
**One important detail. After we loaded the cows in Ontario we headed to my parent's home. My family saved lives sharing fudge, cookies, beef stick and cheese, and water! The crew was assuring us they would expire before we returned home, and might have save it were for the refreshments shared by my family. Thank you dad for saving the lives of children!! They talked about how delicious the snacks were for the next 3 hours while we chased cows.
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