The Primary Suspect

My lower back has been on the edge of a sudden painful contraction all week. I thought it best that I should rest a spell. Sitting for long periods is the absolute worst thing I can do though. That means I need to get up and go for a walk.

So I wandered off into the cool crispy air on a beautiful sun shiny day without a hint of rain in the sky.

The new bloom spikes of the tall grasses are looking exceptional in the lower angle beams of a powerful baking sun.

The Lush is an able competitor for the deepening drought. It is getting close to a month with nothing but fog and spit.

I had an agenda for my walk other than flower gawking. In all the cow commotion of late, a few instances stood out in that no one ever claimed the cows to my knowledge and I had called all the cow people I know. I was going on a cow reconnaissance mission to solve the mystery of the unclaimed cows. My suspicions had been growing about a possible feral colony living in the property just over the county line.

There is an old road that runs the ridge top and county line. It was cleared of debris and regraded about two years ago making it quite pleasant for a walk in the woods on a crispy, pre-autumn day. I began at the beginning where the old road connects to the scenic byway about one hundred feet past Bulbarella's driveway.

I saw evidence of cow from the very beginning. I started walking and kept going with each new cow pie I saw. The further I went the stronger the cow signs became. I was walking a well eaten path and this just did not seem plausible for one escape event.

A mile and a quarter later I made it to the pasture. There were abundant signs of cow outside the saddest looking fence you can imagine. As I looked around it became quite clear that the cows had been out of the pasture and grazing the mountain for weeks if not all summer.

Now who do I call? The last person I knew who was renting this pasture died of the swine flu; an appropriate end in many people's minds. It will take some detective work to find out who these loose cows belong to and I have to hope it isn't intentional letting them out to graze the entire mountain top.

My new winter chore is to finally replace the long gone barbed wire fence along the property and county line that is the most frequent place for illegal crossings. But that will only keep them out from one direction of the compass. We have open borders on the other three sides. I just don't want to run that much fence over this kind of terrain.

It must be the drought. The worse the pasture and outside forage got, the further they had to graze and wander until they made it all the way to the scenic byway. There is no water up there so they had to go back home for that.

I live up where the cows roam free. And chickens. And pigs. What's next, goats? There are a lot of goats in these parts.

It better rain some decent rain tomorrow. That is the last chance before another full week of dry according to the current diagnosis. I want all my local pastures fresh and green.