The Great Escape!

Yvonne and Don left today, leaving little Ian with us for a few weeks - we have King Tut all to ourselves! We had the day all planned out - get up, Y&D pack quickly, then we'd go to Louie's Restaurant in Kenai for breakfast before they head up to Anchorage to catch their plane. But, you know what they say - to see God's sense of humor, just make plans. So, I'm all ready, sitting outside about 9:30, waiting for everyone else to come on out so we can get going. I'm looking down the road that leads to the pasture in which there are cows, horses and llamas. Suddenly, I thought my eyes were going whacky and tried to focus better, hoping to see the fence in front of the two cows that seemed to suddenly be very happy and free. As my body bounded from the chair, with the realization that the cows were on this side of the fence, my voice involuntarily screached, "Cows are loose, cows are loose!" Running down the road, still yelling in hopes that someone, preferably Ian or any of the male persuasion since they should be more knowledgable in these things, would hear me, I kept my eyes on the black cow and the brown cow as they seemed to be getting acquainted with the outside world. Janet, one half of the other campground hosts, was the first to hear my pleas and joined in the race. By the time we got to them, we had sticks in our hands, the black cow was mounting the brown one, I'm yelling for it to get off, then here comes Ian and Don (perfect timing, right?), laughing (of course it's just funny to them), Ian pointing out that it's the female mounting a male.

Sometime during all the commotion, I realized that Yvonne and little Ian should witness the escape of the cows, so I started shouting on them, and eventually they showed up, Ian sporting his new Indiana Jones hat (he must have known there was excitement ahead!). By that time, though, the huge bull that had watched the entire goings-on from behind the fence, decided to join the fracus. So now we have two humping cows and a huge bull running amok. Oh, I didn't tell you that the campground owners had gone to church, so we were on our own. A bunch of city folks who knew nothing about cows and three cows tasting a bit of freedom and enjoying it.

Janet's yelling, "How did they get out?" I'm yelling, "How do we get them back in?" Yvonne's standing back, laughing. Little Ian is getting too close to the cows for my comfort. Don and Ian are non-chalantly wandering around the cows, grinning and acting like they know what to do. By the time Janet's husband, Larry, joins us, the cows have decided that they want to take their little taste of freedom a step further and run for the woods. We could almost see the grins on their heffer mouths and their snorts and moos sure sounded like giggles to me. They led us in and out and around low tree branches, through the brush, and back to the road again. Just when we think we have them under control, they head back into the woods. And, then back to the road again. So, we all have sticks, we're all trying to surround the cows and lead them somewhere - we just don't know where. Or how.

Finally, Carroll, the partriarch of this farming/ranching family shows up, not in the least bit concerned about the cows. I guess this isn't the first time this has happened. He gives a short, distinct instruction: "Get them to the barn!" Well, now, that's all fine and dandy except the barn is way on the other side of the property, down a winding road and across a pond. Some how we managed to get the cows trotting along the road, but at the first turn, two decide to go right rather than left. The other one decided to go straight into the yard of the B&B rather than left. All of us incompetants are still yelling at the cows as well as each other while the cows run wherever their fancy takes them. It was about this time that we noticed Carroll was no where to be found! He'd left us! With his wayward cows. By this time, none of us were worried about the trauma the cows must be experiencing - we were more concerned about the trama we were having!

Eventually, in what seemed to take forever, the bull looked like he was headed for the gate to the barn area. Little Ian ran ahead and manned the gate and opened it just in time to let the bull in while we're all yelling at him not to let the horses out at the same time! IN THE MEANTIME, the other two cows decided to cut across the pond, which was kind of inacceable to any of us humans unless we wanted to slide down the banks and enter the murky world of cow ponds. No one volunteered, but thankfully one cow, then the other, went across, both jumped the low fence into the pasture that surrounds the barn, and we were finished! Job accomplished. No problem.

On the way back, Janet found the hole in the fence that had allowed the escape and Ian quickly put a band-aid on it. All was well. We were now going out for lunch rather than breakfast, but with a good laugh and a new experience to finish off Yvonne & Don's visit to Alaska.