Well the big news here at Lower Farm House is that the cows have moved back into the pastures for the Spring. They are entirely picturesque and unbelievably loud. The pasture, I should mention, is directly outside the wall of our house and front garden – so the mooing is not the far away mooing of distant cows. There is a pasture on either side of our house, and when the cows in one side catch sight of the cows in the other then they both break into a complete fit and moo back and forth over the walls at one another like the woman wailing for her demon lover. It’s quite startling when you’re not expecting it. Especially when they all get into the spirit of the thing and the whole herd pitches in. In fact, just a few minutes ago I was sitting here in the living room, sipping my morning coffee, pyjama clad children eating their breakfast in the kitchen – when I was suddenly jolted out of my calm complacency by a deep, reverberating moo that seemed to be coming from the sofa about 5 feet behind me. I wheeled around, and there in the window above the sofa was an enormous cow head looking in at me.
Perhaps I haven’t been clear enough about the very imminent nature of the pasture. It’s a large pasture, and is surrounded by various things – a creek, a hedge, a wall, and our house. The wall of our house is built straight into a rock wall that extends out both directions from the house. This means that my living room window is essentially a window in the wall looking into the pasture. Am I making myself clear? There are no intermediate steps between the pasture and my living room. This is why I’ve been looking online on how to install a split rail fence so I can make a boundary to prevent the cows from getting near our home.
Do you see that one lone window in the side there? That empties into my living room. My couch sits directly beneath that. And thus, when it sounded like the mooing was coming from the couch, it essentially was. I grabbed my camera and snapped a quick picture – of this.
Yes I know the glass is a mess. But look what gets rubbed all over it.
After this particular cow moved slightly so that I could open the window without bashing it on the nose, I managed to open it up and get a picture of more of the group.
It’s quite an idyllic early morning view isn’t it? (This picture, not the previous one. It’s only idyllic from certain limited angles.)
0
0
LOL! That’s sooooo funny! Hero looks pretty pleased about them being there. Our kids love the pictures!
One thing I remember from my childhood about cows (we lived next to a horse farmer who kept a few cows every year to supply meat for their family) is that if you get too close to their faces you get a whiff of their breath. Which is quite a memorable thing.
Thanks for sharing the pictures and your very funny commentary.
Growing up I would often spend the summers at our cousins. There house used to be an old post office and general store that is fronted by train tracks. I thought it was terrifying the first few times of the stay the train would go by but grew used to the sound and loved it. I wonder if it is that way with the cows. At least the train came and went, it didn’t linger and poke it’s head at the windows.
At least you can be grateful that peaceful pasture cows don’t charge (not like moose outside your window on Moscow Mountain)!
Never a dull moment!
Thanks for a great laugh – you made my day. 🙂
Well, I thought you lived in Oxford, not Xanadu. Thanks for the pictures of your stately pleasure dome.
That’s just too cool!
Between this and your mom’s rose adventure I have started my day with great laughter. 🙂
So funny! I had a good laugh at the nose on the window!!
My front window used to have kitty noseprints all over it. Bovine noseprints somehow seem a little less cute. My nana and grampa’s cows were usually pastured a little farther away from the house, but sometimes you’d get one at the back door. Almost as fun as the skunks who would come into the woodshed, which was built right onto the house, adjacent to the kitchen, and eat out of the cats’ dish. We’d verrrrry carefully and quietly open the kitchen door to peer out at them, and they always remained well-behaved guests.
That is too funny! What a unique situation….sounds, sight and smells. I can only think that it would be better than traffic sounds in the wee mornin’.
Oh my! Thank you for the good laugh. That huge cow face is too funy!
When my sister and I were children, we invented the word “plinkets” to describe animal noseprints on windows – usually our cat’s, and made from the inside, but it would certainly fit cows too.
That is so funny. I’m sure the smudges are nothing next to the fragrance of an open window when they’re all in pasture! Your house is simply lovely, by the way.
Yes, I agree. Your house is lovely! And I think it would be lovely to have cows next door. Of course, I’m not the one living with the smell, so…
Oh man! What a riot!!
I live in rural Kansas. We had an interesting experience one morning at 5 a.m. or so a couple of years ago in early Spring. A married couple were delivering a truck load of calves to some neighbors. Due to road work, the road signs were taken down and they accidentally came down our driveway thinking it was a road. They realized their mistake too late and the semi became stuck in our yard as they got off the gravel trying to turn around. It took us a while to figure out what was going on outside in the dark until we heard the mooing!
We lived next to a cow pasture our first six weeks in Virginia, so I can relate a bit. The picture is much more charming than the smell, wouldn’t you say! So glad you’ll be back in Idaho with your clan soon. Blessings!