Fixin Fence and the Napping Tree

One of Friday's chores was to do a little fence fixin'. This is one chore I usually don't mind doing as long as the weather is nice. Luckily for me, the weather was beautiful on Friday, just a tad breezy, but nothing that was going to blow me clear across the state to Lincoln or Omaha! I also don't mind fence fixin' because it generally can be done by only one person. This is a good thing, since Danny is busy trying to get up the last of our hay.

I only had to check one section of the fence since we were opening up a new section of pasture for the cattle down on the creek. You never know what kind of wildlife you will run across while you are walking the fence line. I didn't find anything too exciting, just a few prairie dogs. Since we have a creek that runs through our pasture, it is generally easiest to just walk the fence line instead of riding the four wheeler. I also enjoy the exercise and just being alone to contemplate what ever crosses my mind.

Here I am checking the electricity with the volt meter. Check out that blue sky!

Lucky for me, there wasn't any major repairs or breaks in the section that I was dealing with, so I had my work done in short order. Since I still had quite a bit of afternoon left and Danny was out raking hay at the other place we farm, I walked down to the creek to see what the cows were doing. They were all bedded down for the afternoon by the "napping tree." Looked like a great idea, so I decided to join them for a little while...


As I take pictures and video for this blog I am always thinking it sure would be great to have someone taping me sometimes, especially when any animals are involved. So let me set the real scene for you regarding the above picture.

Here I am trying to set up the tripod and camera with a dozen or so VERY curious and friendly cows. All of them want to slobber on the camera, lick the tripod and sniff my pockets for "cake." ("Cake" is a protein supplement we sometimes feed our cattle and they absolutely love it. It comes in big pellets, say the size of your thumb, so it is easy to carry a handful in your coat pocket and I occasionally give it to the cows as a treat.)

So, back to the picture taking. Since it is only me, myself and I running the camera and also being the subject of the photograph, I have to use my tripod and the timer on the camera. I have ten seconds to hit the shutter button on the camera, run to the tree, flop down and assume a natural sleeping position. This would not have been too hard of a task to accomplish, but when you factor in my audience of 12 or so curious cows, well... lets just say it was quite comical!

The worst of the bunch was Charlie, one of our herd bulls and a bull that we showed both at the NILE in Montana and the National Western Stockshow in Denver two years ago. Charlie is very tame and very curious, he was also very willing to play the part of the camera man, but couldn't quite hit the shutter with his nose although he tried a number of times!

I had to use a blanket I found in the truck to shoo them away from the camera several times. I shook it out at them like a crazed matador and they would take a few steps back, but that was about all. It was a little unnerving closing my eyes, even though it was only for a few seconds. I was certain someone was going to knock down the tripod and my camera along with it. Now I want you look at the above picture of me and imagine the audience in a semicircle behind the camera goofing around. Now you can picture the "whole" picture behind the napping photo!

Jose' enjoying his mid afternoon nap in the warm autumn sun.