04/28/06 Cow riding vacation

Cow Riding Vacation Sometimes you think you're pretty sneaky, but you're just fooling yourself. I'm Jeff Keane; I'll be back in one minute to explain. A couple of eons ago when I was in high school I visited my good friends during summer vacation. My arrival coincided perfectly with friend one's grandparents leaving for their vacation. Granddad's chores became the job of friend one, friend two, and me. The chores weren't too hardkeep the dog fed, feed and milk the cows, and feed the calves. Maybe the chores should have been a little harder then we would have had less time to think. I know, it was summer vacation and no way should high school boys even think about thinking, but those cows all lined up in their stanchions did get us thinking how easy it would be to get on, ride, and practice our rodeo skills. What a planit worked beautifully, and nobody would ever know, well the milk production did drop off slightly, the cows were a little tougher to get in the barn and put in their stanchions. Granddad's vacation went by way too fast, we were just getting into refining and being more innovative with our cow rideslike more points awarded if you rode with a saddle. Granddad wasn't home a full day when he told friend one tell the boys my vacation is over and so is the cow riding. How did he know? I don't think it was all the cows huddled in the corral corner, no cow giving over a half a pint of milk, or the bulldozer it took to get the cows in the barn. I'll bet it was some loose-lipped neighbor we didn't see driving by on the road. I'm Jeff Keane.