Wednesday, June 27, 2018

How now brown cow...yes, I'm losing my grip on reality.






It's three days till reading retreat, but I had to start early.
I spent a good portion of Sunday tidying up the manuscripts and database of requested reads, thus was reminded how much good stuff is in there, just waiting, so I started reading today.

I will try to get some blog posts up for tomorrow and Friday, but we may have to start the hiatus early.

In the meantime, this is a picture of a highland cow.
Isn't s/he adorable?

30 comments:

Carolynnwith2Ns said...

I love bovines with Beatle cuts.

Kitty said...

Mad cow.

french sojourn said...


Looks like a Yorkshire Terrier on steroids. (Cute though)

S.P. Bowers said...

My neighbors have what I think are highland cows and they got out one morning last summer. Came to visit and eat and fertilize my grassy hills. They hung out for an hour or two before the owners came for them. My kids were ecstatic.

Ashes said...

My dog has this sort of hair-in-the-eyes look. Come to think of it, so does my daughter. Maybe I should start embracing it as cute and stop my 'would you get your hair out of your face' nagging.

E.M. Goldsmith said...

Pretty cow.

Sam Hawke said...

I love a good Highland Coo!

RosannaM said...

Great hair! But I am tempted to find a barrette.

I say, Janet, if you're motivated to start early, go for it! We could all just meet here at the cow page every morning for a wee chat over coffee.

Lisa Bodenheim said...

As Sam said! Pretty coo!

nightsmusic said...

A Heillan Coo! A large beastie whose name is most likely Hamish :) I want a couple. Husband says no. :(

Janet Reid said...

Ashes thanks for the catch on database!

Theresa B (of Nebulopathy) said...

Lovely cow! And being this excited about future plans is a good sign.

OT: Has anyone else been having problems with this page loading very slowly for the last couple of weeks? It could be something with my browser (Firefox 60.0.2 on MacOS Sierra) I suppose, but this seems to be the only page affected.

AJ Blythe said...

How awesome for those in your inbox that you're excited to be diving in. Read away. We'll happily wallow in the cuteness that is Hamish.

Claire Bobrow said...

Cute cow! Love the Pippi Longstocking hair. Happy reading!

Beth Carpenter said...

A lovely cow. As for the starting early, go for it! Read on!

Colin Smith said...

"Have you seen your hair this morning??" :)

Amy Johnson said...

Oh, what a sweet, beautiful face! One of our fellas didn't like fly spray, and the flies liked sitting around his eyes. Poor boy. I wonder if this beauty's hairdo helps with that.

CynthiaMc said...

Every year we go to the Highland Games. One of our favorite stops is to see the new calves. Sooo cute!

Miles O'Neal said...

Love the coos! They're even cuter and cooler in person (so to speak).

Read, Janet, read! (No pun intended.) All agents should take a month off and read. It should be an international agenty thing. Europe takes August off just because; surely agents could take July off from everything but reading.

I'm on writing/editing break while my early readers peruse things, so I am making a tiny dent in my to-read pile, including mss I've been asked to early read. (I'm currently almost halfway through Lawhead's _Pendragon_.)

Julie Weathers said...

Some of you have heard this story, but some haven't.

Cody called today while I was babysitting. 108, one of his bulls decided to go visiting and a deputy called him to tell him the bull was out. He relates the adventures of 108 and 501.

"What's he doing?"

"Well, I can't really complain too much. He's been perfectly courteous, but he is out."

"Yes, 108 has good manners, but what's he doing?"

"Apparently he was just walking down the road and when he'd see a car coming, he'd move over into the barrow ditch and let them pass and then get back up in the road again like he had places to go."

"Any idea where he was going?"

"He's at your neighbor's now. There she was doing dishes and she looked out her back window and he was looking in the window watching her."

"He probably just wanted a drink."

So, Cody goes to get him. The deputy stays to help him load the bull and Cody says that isn't necessary. Kim, the girlfriend gets out a bucket of feed and Cody says that isn't necessary. He opens up the trailer gate and 108 sees the open trailer, runs like a freight train to jump in and turns around to look at everyone like, "Ok, lock up, let's go."

Cody explained to the lady he wasn't trying to bother her, he probably just wanted a drink. She was adamant she wasn't going outside to give him a drink. She might not ever go outside again. Or do dishes.

Another neighbor calls the sheriff on the escape artist. He decided to go visiting again, but stopped to eat grass in her beautiful front yard. She hears a noise out front and thinks it's the neighbor's dog digging up her rose bushes again. She goes out and starts screaming at the dog, only it isn't a dog digging up her rose bush, it's 108. He looks up at her, quite surprised to have someone screaming at him. She drops the broom she was going to chase the dog away with and tears back into the house screeching bloody murder. The scares 108 and he starts bucking. She calls the sheriff.

Cody goes to pick up 108 who is digging holes in the woman's lawn now because he's upset. He snorts at Cody. Cody hits him in the head with an empty plastic bucket and the bulls drops his head, gets his feelings hurt and starts bawling. Cody has to pat him and make up to get him back in the trailer. He repairs the damage to the woman's lawn and apologizes. 108 can figure gate latches out like a Houdini, so Cody has had to put new locks on them. One of the heifers just pushes the fence down when she decides to go roaming, so he's locking her up in a pen to keep peace with the neighbors. Not everyone is used to having a 2,000-pound bull staring in the window at you when you least expect it, nor do they want to get used to it apparently.

BTW, I love Highland cattle. They just don't do well in Texas.

Timothy Lowe said...

I call that 'carwash hair'

OT - new season of "Marcella" on Netflix is out - it is impossible to turn away from. The writers of that series keep me up entirely too late!

Okay, back to vacation mode. I have been power washing things. I highly recommend it for anyone who hasn't done it. There are few things more therapeutic.

John Davis Frain said...

T Lowe, I bet you could do some power washing with that Highland Cow and find all sorts of goodies that come out in the wash.

Janet Reid said...

oh Timothy Lowe you evil Netflix eyeball enticer.
I saw that a new season of Marcella was up but I resisted.
No more.


Brenda said...

He - Highland bull.
She - Highland cow.
Just saying.
I grew up with monster sized Charolais and Limousin bulls that you never turned your back on. My dad always turned them out to breed on Mother’s Day. His joke.
Newlywed me moved onto our place in the eighties (no utilities yet, fences down etc). On a trip back from the spring, carrying two buckets of water, I was accompanied by the neighbors little Angus bull. Friendly guy. Slobbered all over my shoulder. I was too scared to run or yell.
When me and my new beau strolled into the yard, new hubby drove him off saying, “Back off buddy, I’m the only one drooling over this gal.”
It was kinda romantic in a twisted, get-the-water-lines-installed-immediately-or-else way.
Enjoy your week Janet.

Lennon Faris said...

I once bottle fed a calf and then it wanted to suck my thumb. It wasn't a highland cow but boy, was it adorable.

My sister and I were once charged by a young bull. He was probably just trying to play with us. My great-aunt was running chores and we were tagging along at a distance. We saw him coming and scampered into a thicket of blackberry bushes. Our arms and faces were all scratched up but we survived! We felt like heroes.

Beth Carpenter said...

Julie and Brenda -- Thank you for making me smile. I can just see it all happening.

Timothy Lowe said...

Janet, it is the Netflix people's fault! I swear! You, you've got other tasty stories to sample . . .

Michael Seese said...

I had hair like that back in the 80s.

John Davis Frain said...

Lennon, you know how to keep a bull from charging, right?










Take away his credit card. (Sorry, I gave Colin a few hours to chime in, but someone had to Dad Joke Lennon after that set up.)

Amy Johnson said...

John, Ha! Way past my bedtime, and I've got the sleepy-giddies. A dad joke was all it took to get me laughing.