Chain Cow Goes to Buffalo Wallow

Chain Cow was traumatized by the whole branding thing and ran away. On the ranch, it’s fairly easy to track a cow, unless she’s traveling on rock or through some thick brush. A tiny cow in an apartment crammed with all manner of useless stuff is a different matter entirely.

I baited the trap and waited.

Sure enough, she took the bait. (In case you’re wondering, that’s 108 pounds of chocolate.)

I convinced her there were lots of fun things to do.

She noticed the six pack. Unfortunately, the beer bottles are recycled and living a new life as salt and pepper shakers.

She did find the liquor, though.

Then she started singing 99 jars of marshmallow crème on the wall, 99 jars of crème. I’m not sure why.

She wanted to watch some movies, so I took her to the collection and she picked out a Harry Potter movie.

 Then she wanted to read. Yay! A cow who likes to read. Most of the books were too long for her,

 but she found some about her size and settled down by the potbellied stove to read by the candlelight.

Will and Little Man came by and we went to Buffalo Wallow. Years ago, thousands of buffalo migrated through this country. Back then, this was lush grassland. It reminded some of the first settlers of Odessa, Russia and they thought it would also be excellent wheat land. However, the buffalo were only interested in the grass and over the years, huge herds of them dusting in the same spot created a huge wallow. It has since been filled with water permanently and turned into a park of sort.

There is an interesting collection of fountains and statues in the area.

The one with the children was dedicated to five policemen who lost their lives while answering a domestic disturbance call.

This statue is to commemorate the Comanche Indians who lived in Texas and followed the buffalo migrations.

As well as buffalo, there were large mustang herds.

The cattlemen who settled here are remembered with plaques describing the families and histories of the ranches.

Probably the main highlight of Buffalo Wallow is feeding the ducks, however. People come out daily to walk the path and feed ducks, who have become experts at catching the bread.

As Will discovered, with an adept flick of the wrist, a person can get the bread several feet out into the pond. This gives the alert ducks plenty of time to get there and wait for it to land. It also ensures there are plenty of fights over the bread. Ah, yes, my son. I’m so proud of his ability to make the most of any opportunity for entertainment.

We tried to get Logan to feed the ducks, but he just kept eating the duck bait. Luckily, I bought a loaf of fresh bread instead of bringing old bread.

After we fed ducks, we went to the park, where Chain Cow insisted on pretending she was on the beach

She was in a much better mood and forgot all about the branding. We went back to the house, where she noticed the Savannah pine cones.

She thought the pan was a cow spa. I think she was obsessed with cow spas. I explained to her it was a gold mining pan and she insisted on panning for gold. Look! She found some nuggets. All right, I may have salted the gravel a bit.