Sacred cows

Several weeks ago I posted a picture of a black cow that had appeared in our yard. I thought she would meander home, as the two white longhorn visitors had done several years before.

I misjudged the allure of our property. She continues to stroll by our house almost daily. She has become such a familiar sight that we have given her a name:  Henrietta.

Henrietta is a wanderer. As cows do, she makes a circuit. She wanders out in search of grass, and then wanders back. Not many natural water sources exist in our neighborhood, but we have several water buckets situated on our property (for wildlife) where she drinks.

Over the past two weeks, her circuit has gotten larger. Last week I saw her about a quarter mile down the road. I thought perhaps she had wandered on, but she returned to us the next day. Last Saturday I saw her grazing over someone’s septic tank on another street – ½ mile or more from our land. She came back.

As Henrietta roamed, I hoped additional calls to the sheriff’s office would increase interest in finding her owner. A neighbor who is friendly with a county animal control officer said that they have indeed gotten many calls about Henrietta. Yet still she roams free.

Apparently, Henrietta really, really likes her new home and life. She likes it so much that she returned to her prior home and persuaded one of her friends to join her.  This morning, we looked out to see two cows grazing near the house. (By the way, cows seem to enjoy the Lindheimer muhly in my flowerbeds.)

In India where cows are considered sacred, they sometimes roam freely, grazing and drinking where they will. Perhaps these will become our neighborhood’s sacred cows, to be revered and protected, looked upon fondly and with tolerance as they wander by, eating, drinking and fertilizing the soil.

Or perhaps their owner will realize that he is missing two valuable animals and will come to collect them, putting to an end their lives as neighborhood sacred cows and returning them to their small pasture.

I know the outcome I am rooting for.

Favorite spot in the garden:

Looks like I did not have to order a larger appliance to get the other stand of persimmons exposed. I only needed to track down a poor college student!

My oldest son needed money, so he spent last weekend cleaning up the other part of the persimmon grove. The picture doesn’t do it justice, but I’m so pleased!