Signs of Approaching Winter: Movin' the Herd.

"A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast: but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel." 

                                                                  Proverbs 12:10

 This morning I looked out to see this.

 Violet ran into the house after helping my Farmer all morning.

"Daddy told me he needs me to help move the cows to the other pasture for the winter!"

Her excitement was palpable.

 This used to be my job;  but the baby was in the living room playing,

and she has a terrible cold.  I didn't want to bundle her up and take her out.

Sometimes, I miss my old outside jobs.

But that's okay: Violet seems to like the challenge,

and it's good for her.

 My Farmer set up a make-shift chute to herd the group across the driveway

so they could go through the barn to the other pasture.

 He finishes the details while Violet takes the "blocking the passage" stance

as directed by him.

 Thankfully, cows are nosey.

If there is one brave one, they'll usually all follow...

 

but sometimes, there's a chicken in the group;

or maybe I should say a scaredy cat;

okay, a timid cow.

This can put a kink in the movement.

 My Farmer starts poking, trying to get things moving again

but suddenly,
a cow bumps the gate and it starts to fall over.

Violet sees the trouble and grabs it to hold it upright.

The temporary fence post gets tossed to her so she can block the opening.

  A curious cow has spotted the gap.

 

At this point, I am noticed on the porch with my camera in hand,

and I hear my Farmer say,

"It sure would be nice if we had some more help up here so these cows don't get free!"

 I turned around and asked,

"Are you going up there to help?"

Nothing,

So I called out to the last of the reserves to get his boots on and get out here...

 while I saw my daughter holding up the gate and bravely shouting,

"Get back!"

 The cowpoke finally entered the scene.

 He's coming to the rescue at a terrible pace...

terribly slow.

He's so easily distracted.

Keep those eyes on the road, guy!

 He moseys onto the scene as the last cow enters the barn...

 and is promptly given a job anyway.

My Farmer comes out and thanks the crew.

He later takes Violet out for lunch,

because she helped him all morning,

even giving up her favorite Saturday morning show to be his cowgirl.

She's growing up, that one.

This one, well, let's just say he's still got some training to get up to speed,

but he'll get there.

These guys will have this nice warm barn to find shelter and be easier to feed when the weather turns bad.  They'll also have access to the big pasture.

Now it can snow.