Today, I got to meet a couple of people in person, finally!

The first was the owner of the cows. :-D

I had expected him to come earlier, so I was a bit surprised when I saw the cows still in the outer yard.  They had gotten into the burn barrel again, so I went out with a big garbage back to pick up the mess and put the burn barrel pieces into a pile again.  I decided to put the bag into the garage and headed that way, only do see the door was more open than I left it (with no handle, I didn’t close it all the way), and stuff was scattered around.  When I came over, I found a cow inside, standing by the van!

I got it out, then started cleaning up the mess.  They dragged out bags of recycling and chewed on the plastic, and dragged out or knocked over a few other things.  I needed to clean those up, anyway. ;-)  I also added more water to the old bathtub I’d lined with plastic, yesterday.  The cows had started chewing on the plastic, so I wanted to at least have the weight of water to make sure they didn’t drag it out!  They even got into the pile of wood and dragged branches out.

After going back into the yard, I noticed quite a few cows along the fence by the fire pit.  I decided to check on them, because something looked not quite right. Plus, that fence isn’t very strong!  When I got there, I found one cow between the wood pile and the fence, which means it was walking on the picket-fence type section I’d removed and set aside. I didn’t want to take a chance of it breaking it up too much and exposing nails, so I shooed it away.  Which is when I noticed the cow at the big willow branch overhanging the area.  She was backed right up against the branch.  I couldn’t help but ask out loud, “are you scratching your butt on that branch?”  The cow just looked at me… then started wiggling its butt back and forth.  Yup!  She was using the branch as a butt scratcher! LOL

And that, my friends, if why trees that have cows around them regularly, tend not to have lower branches.

There were a couple of cows that looked very strange at a distance.  Then one came over and I realized what it was.  The top of its head was a mass of burrs, like a crown!  The burs were also filling its ears.  Not deep enough to be a problem, and they’ll be able to rub them off later on.  It sure was something to see!

The kittens were not happy about all these big creatures lumbering about!  Especially since they were curious about the kittens and would start approaching them, any time they saw one! :-D

I was expecting my sister and mother to come over with a relative from Poland, so I phoned my mother to let them know about the cows, and to make sure to close the gate.  My mother wasn’t going to make it, though.  She was feeling tired.  She is going for surgery soon, so we all want her to be taking extra good care of herself!

Not long after I called, I heard a vehicle outside, and it was the renter, herding his cows back through the gate.  I don’t know what he was driving, but I want one! :-D  Though we’ve talked on the phone, I’ve never met him face to face, so I went out to talk to him.  He had his two little boys with him, too.  Neither spoke, so I don’t know which one I’d talked to on the phone, but they were both adorable!  We had fun talking about the antics of the cows.  I did confirm that yes, that wire was supposed to be electrified, but he wasn’t sure what happened.  I mentioned our power failure and wondered about it, but the electric fence is solar powered, so that should not have had anything to do with it.  I also learned that he’s had to supplement the cows’ grazing with feed, and even bring them water.  The dugouts are dry.  :-(

Not long after that, I drove the girls into town for some errands they needed to do.  In the end, it was just me, my sister and our relative for lunch, as my husband was having a bad pain day and had to lie down.  I was so happy to finally meet my relative in person!  My Polish isn’t very good anymore, but I could still understand much of what he was saying.  I just couldn’t really say anything back.  Thankfully, my sister’s Polish is better, so we were able to communicate just fine. :-)

After lunch, we did a tour of the yard.  It’s been a while since my sister was out here, so this was the first time she’d seen all the trees I’d cleared.  She took pictures all over the place, including the piles of wood! :-D  She and her husband were taking care of the yard for my mom last year, and she told me about an area near the garden she didn’t mow in, because my mom had apparently planted something there.  We started looking in the tall grass, and she pointed out some barely visible elm saplings.  Did she plant those?  They seem to be in a row.  Why would she plant them there?  No idea.  I found out that my mother drove my late brother nuts with her habit of planting things in the oddest of places, because it made it harder for him to mow! :-D

Next, we went through the barn to get to the other side of the newly fixed electric fence.  The cows were nearby and content to watch us.  We went into the old hay yard, looking at the abandoned cars.  There’s where I noticed a newly fallen tree.  I just had to check, and yes…

It was another tree weakened by ants.

Another reminder to me to put a priority on taking down the dead trees in the yard.  On the outside, they might look fine, but on the inside, they could be riddled with ant tunnels.

We continued around, looking at all the old farm equipment.  Our relative was a farmer in Poland, and while farming is rather different there, if only because of the smaller size of a typical farm there, but he was able to recognize quite a few pieces of equipment.  We made a point of going into one of the sheds, where he could see the old hand-crank cream separator and the antique seed cleaner.  We made our way around to the pump shack.  I started telling my sister about the melted plug my older brother had fixed – the plug that powered the storage shed we’ve been putting my parents’ stuff into – but I got distracted by the fact that the plug was gone.

In fact, the entire cord was gone.

Sure enough, the cows had managed to drag it out!  I went outside and found it, pushing it back through the opening for my sister to plug in.  I’m just amazed that the cows were able to get at it.  Most of the cable is buried.

Then we went into the storage shed to see as much as they could, around all the boxes, bags and furniture.  While they looked around, I tested the power, but nothing turned on.  I’m going to have to go back another time and see if I can find out why it’s not working.

We eventually made our way back to the house, and while talking about how my late brother built the sun room for my parents, we went inside.  One of the things that got noticed was a kneeler.  I pulled it out so they could see the better side of it, and not just the sun damaged side.  That’s when my relative commented about the top opening.  No, I said.  It doesn’t open, though it looks like it should.

That’s when he found out what it does do.

The top doesn’t open.  The screen slides up!

I now know why there’s a peg on a chain on the side!  There are holes along one side of the screen the peg fits into, to keep it from falling down again.  In this position, it was used as a confessional; the priest would be sitting in a chair on one side, while the confessor knelt on the prie-dieu.

I’m so glad he showed us this!  All this time of looking at it, it never occurred to me that the screen moved.

After that, we just sat at the table and chatted.  It was really interesting to hear some of his experiences.  He told us that he had never dreamed he would be able to come to Canada and see his relatives, while living under communism.  He took part in the protests back in the 80’s, was beaten for it, and lived in fear for his life for a long time.  Many did not survive those years.  It makes one really appreciate the freedom we have, and how easy it is to lose it.

After a while, they headed out to do some more sight seeing while I went to get the girls.  It was such an excellent visit.  I don’t know that I’ll be able to see him again before he leaves Canada, but I hope so.

The Re-Farmer