01/19/07 Slow ride

Slow Ride Every now and then the good-luck godmother thumps you right over the head with lucky dust. I'm Jeff Keane; I'll be right back to tell you a lucky story. Sometimes what starts out to be bad luck can be corrected with luck wearing a white hat. Late this fall we moved the cows and calves close to home to graze wheat stubble before we shipped the calves. About two days after the cattle were home, one cow was bawling for her calf. I didn't think too much about a lost calf at the age of these calves, but I found some calf tracks later at a gate that would lead back to the cattle last pasture. Although it is not hard to do, I got really confused when I found tracks on another fence line heading both away from the cows. Just so I wouldn't have to think too much. I decided that calf would be with her mother when we rounded up, but she wasn't and none of the bird hunting club had seen a stray calf in any of their hunts. We figured back luck had visited the calf, but about five weeks later my nephew and two friends found the calf while snowmobiling. That was just the start of the good luck. Within 24 hours the weather warmed up, the snow settled so the horses weren't have to work so hard and my nephew's college classes were cancelled so he could help. After that the good luck came so fast I got a little giddy. Two hours of riding took us right to the calf, the calf wasn't wild or independent like lone cattle can get, and she followed my nephew's horse and let me tag along behind almost like a milk cow heading home. It was a slow ride, but a good one. I'm Jeff Keane.