Speaking of charging animals (Mom, you might want to skip this post)

We've been "renting" a bull for a couple of months from a farmer near Arthur.  We rented this same bull last year, and he was pretty gentle and easy to have around.  This year he is a little older and a little more grumpy.  Thanksgiving weekend, when the men and kids were cutting wood, they took Clint & Dawn's Suburban into the pasture and the bull grumbled and pawed and bellowed and tried to start a fight with the Suburban, so we got him fenced off in a different pasture to keep him from ramming into anyone.  He behaved pretty well then, but still grumbled and pawed a bit at all the commotion going on in "his" pasture.

I probably shouldn't put this on here, but since it all turned out OK I guess I will.  I was gone for a little while one day last week and left some of the kids home.  The older girls do pretty well taking care of things here and Todd is only 5 minutes away so if they need something they can call him and he can be home in a jiffy.  Anyway, here is a copy of their chat with Todd after they came back in the house from a little excitement.

2:27 PM the kids: We just looked out the window and noticed that the gate was wide open, Blueberry (the donkey) and Beauty (the pony) were in the yard, and the bull was about 5 feet from the gate (in the yard).

2:28 PM 

Todd: did you get them in?

  

Do I need to come home?

2:29 PM the kids: Charlotte, Abigail and I (Laura), went out there armed with a shoe and chunk of wood (Charlotte), a broom (Abigail), and an ax for me.

I think they know now to call their dad BEFORE they head out with their weapons of choice, but it must have made quite a picture...

Our 70+ year old neighbor and some of his friends asked if they could come bow hunt on our land.  We warned him about the bull and he said he'd keep an eye out.  He called later and told us the bull had chased him up a tree...

So, tomorrow the bull goes back home!  Maybe we can figure out how to increase our herd without a bull next year!

(Lincoln's explanation of why bulls are so grumpy - They never sleep."