Stories from the Stringam Family Ranches of Southern Alberta

From the 50s and 60s to today . . .



Monday, March 24, 2014

Sniffed Out


Watch out! She'll get you!
The morning milking happened . . . early.
Before any of the younger kids were stirring.
It was a peaceful time.
Just the milkmaid (ie. me) and the cows.
The afternoon milking, though, was quite different.
While the milker was with the cows, the bustle of afternoon chores was going on all around.
Talk and laughter as the kids fed chickens and pigs.
Held buckets for the calves.
Hauled feed.
Opened and closed gates.
Chased kittens.
It was a busy, happy time.
And the baby generally was left with little to do.
Tristan, said baby, was five.
He had helped feed.
And now was looking for Mom.
I should mention, here, that our little milk barn had two rooms.
One for the business part of the operation.
And a waiting room with a little pen.
I was milking Kitty.
One of our two, gentle little Jersey milk cows.
Bunny was in the outer room, already milked and patiently awaiting her freedom.
Tristan came into the barn.
"Mom?"
(Real conversation.)
"I'm here, sweetheart."
"You done?"
"Almost."
I could hear sounds of someone small climbing the gate of the pen.
"Can I wait here?"
"Sure, sweetie. I'll just be a minute."
A heavy sigh. "Okay."
"Did you help feed?"
"Yeah. Are you coming?"
"Pretty soon."
"Okay."
Suddenly, "Mom! Mom!"
"What's the matter?"
"Mom! This cow is coming over!"
Cows are intensely curious. If something comes into their sphere, it needs to be investigated.
And smelled.
And tasted.
"She won't hurt you."
"Mom! She's getting closer!"
"She won't hurt you, sweetie!"
Silence.
Then, indignantly, "Mom, she's getting sniff on me!"
Cow sniff.
In a world full of troubles, if that's the worst that happens . . .

8 comments:

  1. Had my share of cow sniff on me and I'm still alive.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hahaha! That is so cute!

    Now just to clarify, was the cow sniff dry or wet?? Because one is way better than the other :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Aw w, I can relate to that one. We took a horse back riding trip as a family once. We had our dog with us. We ran into a few cows and the dog went up to sniff; bad mistake. The cow came after him as he tried to climb on my horse. The cow let out a lot of wet sniff. Yuck!
    Blessings for bringing up that old memory~

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yep. You totally get it! I'd love to have seen that! :)

      Delete
  4. I've never been that close to a cow, I don't know how I might react.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Picture a big, rubbery-looking wet nose. And you're half-way there!

      Delete

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