12/06/07 Luck helps

Sometimes there is luck involved in even a bad situation. I'm Jeff Keane; I'll be right back to tell you what I mean. Last week I rounded up some cows that needed to go to the sale. They were a little hard to gather as the weather was close with drifting fog, but I got them corralled before dark. The next morning a friend and I loaded the cows and headed for town. As I turned off the country road on to the pavement I looked in the mirror. Oh yeah, I hadn't put on the extra safety latch and the washboards on the gravel road had let the regular latch pop up and the trailer door was able to open. I told my friend I'll keep rolling slow, you jump out and shut the gate. Too late - the trailer was empty! That's what I get for only looking forward and visiting too much. We turned the pick up and trailer around and headed back. We found cow tracks on the road and found the cows in about one quarter mile. They were headed home, but had to pass my brother's house, which is home to an exuberant young border collie. Luckily, my nephew was still home and thank goodness for cell phones  that combination saved a real wreck. As it was the cows still wouldn't go by the house and headed on a tour of some small bluffs and deer trails that took them over the hill into one our pastures. I got my horse and with the help of everybody opening the right pasture, lane and corral gates, we corralled the runaways again, loaded them, shut the safety latch and delivered them. If you're going to do stupid, silly things and not pay attention to details, you just have to have luck to bail you out. I'm Jeff Keane.