I woke up this morning to the sight of a cow meandering down the sidewalk outside my window. Fifteen or twenty cows discovered the delights of the front beds. When I opened the front porch door, they headed down the front slope at a run.
On the way over and down the slope, the cows kicked over the spigot in the center of the sidewalk border. To his credit, John Questo came up this morning to herd in the cows and repair the spigot. John used his intuition to find the end of the water line to drain it, and I learned a little bit more about the idiosyncratic water system that we have. At dinner tonight MJ gave thanks for good neighbors who do the right thing.
Cows appear to be more afraid of us than we are of them. I stared down two cows who had mauled a trash can trying to get at the cob. A few steps towards them and they took off. In the process they also managed to kick over the house number sign. No great loss there, as ti was almost gone in any event.
MJ joined me in my anti-thistle crusade. In the bright mid-morning sun working on the front slope garden was pleasant, doing the search and destroy for thistle and thinning e weeds as we went. MJ pruned two of the lantanas in the front slope garden. Once established, lantana responds well to even significant pruning. Each year MJ cuts back the lantana next to the house. It already fills that space and is blooming mightily.
We loaded the truck with donations, tied a tarp over them and drove slowly to Jackson by Stony Creek Road. MJ and I each have our favorite houses along that road, and the land is lush and green. In a few shaded spots we found the snow that fell in Jackson last night. We arrived without throwing towels all over the road or being arrested for a public nuisance.
A Year at the Snake 