One of the most effective ways to get our son to fall asleep is to take him for a walk.
Living on a ranch means we have some of the most scenic walks imaginable available right outside the door meandering in between lakes with many a stunning view. This weekend, having been a little colder, somehow even the mosquitos have disappeared which is nice because it was starting to get a bit much (even the dog would stop and paw her face).
However, living on a ranch also means having cattle around. Largely, we have been unaffected by this, in fact, I would say that generally, it adds to the scenery. There’s the occasional broken fence, which is not my problem, and the cow excrement stuck to the bottom and sides of my car is largely a badge of honour that comes with living in the Cariboo. It also slows me down a little on my drive into work, although my wife and inlaws think I normally drive too fast anyways, so they probably consider that a win. It’s even been fun scaring the occasional non-Cariboo, non-rancher visitor by claiming the bulls might charge them when out on a walk.
They’ve been in the fields surrounding our house for a little while now but this week they’ve started getting a lot closer to our house. There are a number of what I assume are tongue marks on the side of the car now as well. This has come with two actually annoying side effects though. The first being that our dog, which could easily be mistaken for a cattle dog if not for her behaviour, is frightened of them. From her perspective, I’m sure the house is under siege (I must admit it’s a little odd opening your door to a bunch of cattle under your carport). Generally not a barker, she’s taken up the practice in fear of the “terrifying” creatures. This is much to the dismay of our son, who fell asleep while we were out walking the other day but woke up to the frightened dog barks and subsequently couldn’t get back to sleep until 11.
The second problem, and one we should have anticipated, might have saddened my wife a little more. Our yard is fenced with the cars parked right in front of the gate; too narrow for a cow to get in. However, plenty of space for a calf or two to make it through and apparently the things in our (vegetable) garden are a lot tastier than what’s available elsewhere., especially the leeks and kohlrabi. Although, I suppose it’s only fair as payback for branding. Little do they know all they’ve done is add some really early seasoning to the meat.