Watering Cows Special Time

By Denise Anderson First Published June 10, 1994“Hey, Mabel,” Alvin called, “if you want to ride with me to check cows, we could go straight to town for groceries from there.”It sounded like a good idea to Mabel, so she gathered her purse and coat and headed for the pickup.A movement in the truck when she opened the door made her jump back. An ax fell to the ground, narrowly missing her foot.“Sorry about that,” Alvin said, coming around the pickup to pick up the ax. “I forgot I set it over there.”He also picked up two soda cans, several elevator receipts and an overboot and shoved everything but the ax back in the truck and made a place for Mabel to sit. The ax he put in the back of the pickup.Mabel declined to accompany him around the field to check the electric fence. She would wait in the pickup.Alvin shrugged, then retrieved his ax and headed out. For him, checking the cows was a morning ritual that got him some exercise and let him reflect on the day in the peaceful stillness you can only find in the middle of a cornfield.That was, unless a deer had gone through the fence and he had to fix sections of it, or the cows were out and he had to round them up again.On this day, however, the cows were in, the fence was working and the trees were beautiful with a frosty covering. The only thing left for Alvin to do was make sure the adjoining creek was flowing so the cows had water.He headed for the creek, the cows faithfully following.As he suspected, the creek was frozen over. He stomped on the edge for a moment but no cracks appeared. He would have to use the ax to chop a hole. One of the cows nudged his shoulder. She apparently was thirsty and wanted him to hurry.“Ok, ok,” he said, “I'm chopping.”He chopped. Nothing happened. He chopped some more and hit gravel. He scooted out further on the ice. The cows followed, waiting. He chopped some more, then jumped back as the ice gave way and water began flowing. The cows were right behind him, blocking the way back to shore.“Everybody back up,” he told them, “and I'll make the hole bigger, but I'm not going to fall in the water just because you're impatient.”The cows obediently backed up a step.“Thanks,” Alvin said, and made the hold bigger so there was room for all of them to drink. All that remained was to get back to shore.“Coming through,” he said, holding the ax aloft so he wouldn't accidentally hit a cow with it. The cows moved so he could go through. Alvin scrambled up the bank and headed back to the pickup. Before he lost sight of the cows, he looked back.“See you tomorrow,” he called, “have a good day.”Mabel was waiting in the pickup as promised. Alvin climbed in, whistling. Mabel was unusually quiet on the way to town.She could hive sworn that when Alvin waved back to the cows, at least a dozen of them had flicked their tails in reply. Had he actually taught those cows to wave?

Meridian Hangs Tough At State Tournament

Gage County Meetings

Related Articles

Kill Two Stones With One Bird

The End of the World (Wide Web) As We Know It

Optimus Subprime

A Nickel for Your Thoughts