Cattle, wheat field, Oklahoma and flip flops!

Such as this week.

I was in the house all day. (yeah, I know...no big surprise there! ;)) Anyway, I took out several loads of trash out to the dumpster and noticed the cows out behind the garden on the wheat field. Dad has been running cattle out there for several weeks, so it wasn't anything new to see them there.

I walked back in the house and proceeded to finish what I was doing and then it dawned on me. There's cattle outside, behind the garden, on the wheat field. Didn't Dad just tell me last week that he took the cattle off there and wasn't going to run them back out there???

Maybe he changed his mind. I looked out the kitchen window only to see the temporary fence he had up at one time was down. Uh oh. And Dad? Well, he was in Oklahoma for the day. So, why did the cows choose today to get out???

So my call to Dad went like this, "Are there supposed to be cattle on the wheat?"

Dad, "No."

Me, "Well, guess what? There are now! Where are you at? Are you on your way home?"

Dad, "No, I'm still a couple hours away. How many? They must have gotten through some fences. You're going to have to run them back in the corral."

Sure, just run them back in the corral. Most people find it hard to believe I live on a farm or that my sisters and I used to help Dad work cattle. But, it's true. Admittedly, it's been years since I've done it and as one person so accurately announced in church one Sunday morning, "There's this young lady living at Quincy's farm who doesn't help him with cattle." Well, guess what? That's about to change! ;)

I had walked outside while I was talking to Dad and Austin was in the yard (our next door neighbor) with his dog. Help was in sight!!!! I asked him if he would be able to help me round up the cows and get them in. His response, "Sure!"

I went back in the house for sunglasses and shoes. I've been grilled since very young to ALWAYS wear closed toe shoes when working with cattle and horses. Hmmm......shoes. I briefly debated this dilemma. I don't own tennis shoes. And I'm not wearing my good black boots out in a filthy field and corral. Soooo......it's gonna have to be flip flops!

Austin and I walked out into the corral and discovered that the cattle had broken through a gate, which would require repair to hold them back in there once we rounded them up. Austin said he could fix it (thank goodness!), but he needed wire and a post. Ok. Another call to Dad to find out where he kept that stuff.

Gate mended thanks to Austin. Now, to get the cattle. They happened to be clear at the opposite end of the field and I decided that we were not walking all the way out there to bring them back. Austin commented to me that now was the time he needed his horse here. Yeah, I agree. The next best thing? Dad's four wheeler! Worked splendidly!

Thankfully Austin has worked on a farm before and is familiar with repairing fences, herding cattle and driving four wheelers. About the only thing I did was call Dad multiple times as he was explaining to me the what and where with fences, gates and cattle.

I'm thankful I caught the cattle out there before they wondered who knows where. And so thankful Austin was here. He was just getting ready to leave when his dog came over to play with Lady and at that moment I walked outside. Perfect timing! If I would have noticed the cows out five minutes later, Austin would already have been gone! Praise God He worked through everything!

And....the flip flops worked! I still have toes!! ;)