Here are our local gathering of deer who like to eat up and down our street. In fact, we see these deer at least once every three days (often more than that). They like to graze on the green grass all around our place. Sometimes they saunter into the street...so we have to be very careful when we drive to and from our house.
Here is Gage watching the cows graze across the street from our house on the famous Flying W Ranch. These cows have lots of personality. In fact, they like to jump over the barbed wire fence and graze on our side of the fence. We often get to see the Flying W Ranch cowboys riding up our street on horses to chase them back down. It's so much fun for our boys. The other day I found a cow just outside our house on our side of the fence and it looked like he was trying to get back in the hard way (through the barbed wire fence). I wasn't sure what to do, but I am too much of an animal lover to let him stay there and suffer. So, I approached him while my wife and boys watched from the front porch. He got spooked before I made it to him and leaped (and I mean olympic high jump gold medal winner here) over the barbed wire fence. I didn't know cows could jump like that. But, at least she was back on her side of the fence. Here's another photo of the herd.
The weird thing is you can't smell them. I'm used to living near Chino, California where when I was a kid there were still farms and the smell wafting from Chino to our home town was....umm...really gross to say the least. In fact, whenever I smell horses or cows I still refer to it as smelling like "Chino". But, I don't smell these cows. Perhaps the Flying W folks do a good job cleaning up after them. Or perhaps these cows smell like roses. Either way, there is no smell to have to contend with. So, we get the joy of seeing these animals on a daily basis without the yucky odor.Funny story, Gage and I were driving home and we passed the park near our house. There are tennis courts at the end of it and there were two heavy set ladies playing tennis. Also, surrounding the park is the Flying W Ranch and the cows who live there. I told Gage that the cows were out and he rolled down the window and yelled "Hey Big Guys!!!" at the top of his lungs just as we were passing the plumpish tennis ladies. Oh my! How embarrassing. Hopefully they knew he was talking to the cows and not them.
Another funny story. There are cows and bulls in the ranch across the street from our house. It's spring. I'm sure you are getting the picture. The other day when we were watching the cows they started getting....ummm....frisky. Of course, the boys wanted to know why they were jumping on each other like that. So, I got to share a little about the birds and the bees. I gave them the 4-7 year old version, of course. But, I wasn't expecting to have that conversation for at least a couple more years. Oh well...
So, between the deer, the cows, the prairie dogs, squirels, the hawks, and the Black Billed Magpie's...we have plenty of wildlife to enjoy around our house. My boys are loving this and it's quite fun for Joi and I, too.
