Came back home tonight just as it was turning from dusk to dark, turned into the entrance to the small square of land around our house and the headlights reflected brightly off the eyes of that 1500 pound black angus bull, grazing on the small strips of what’s left of old yellow grass. Remember the bull from last year? Well, last we knew this bull (who we’ve named Barney) was across the road in another pasture. We don’t know if the rancher who owns him moved him or if Barney moved himself, something he has tended to do in the past. Three parts of our fencing is smashed – the bull in a china shop analogy exists for a good reason.

Called the landlord – there’s nothing to be done about it tonight so he’s going to call the rancher and come over here tomorrow at 6:30 a.m. You know when your energy is rapidly leaving a situation and you just can’t even work up enough energy to care when something weird happens? Well, that’s kind of it – we want to move anyway and this reminds us of another reason why. I’m not fixing the fence or trying to patch it with splintered wood again and I’m not going to worry if the herd finds the gaping holes Barney made and wanders in. Let the rancher’s ranch hands repair the fence and chase out the cows – as Michael the archangel said, “It’s not my area.”

Our landlord said that the rancher was getting annoyed at this bull and might send him to the auction soon anyway and let him become someone else’s problem – I suggested that he might make some good steaks and our landlord laughed and replied, “Well, maybe a stew.”