Emma Takes a Licking

Miss Chief, relaxing in the front yard


I was washing dishes when I saw the little rooster streak across the front yard, screaming, and hide in one of the square-foot gardening boxes.

I rushed outside to see what was wrong. Fiona McBride stood on the west side of the house, and when I moved toward her, she took off, running and bucking, toward the road. Thankfully she turned east before she got there and stopped to graze.

About that time Emma appeared, breathless. Apparently she had been chasing Fiona for a while. She related that Fiona had broken free just as she got her to the house for the morning milking. She said that once free, Fiona put her head down and shook it at Emma. "And she hopped like a bunny!" Emma gushed happily. "Then she took off to chase the rooster."

While running across the sidewalk, Fiona stepped in a bucket of water, causing her hind legs to slip so violently that she almost went down. "She's just feeling frisky because of the nice weather," Emma explained.

"Ah," I thought, vastly reassured.

Emma approached Fiona and grabbed her by the haltar. Grandpa's little Yorkie, Cherokee, hurried over to assist. This must have been highly insulting to the poor cow. With a violent toss of her head, Fiona again broke free of Emma's grip, put her head down and chased the dog, who ran as hard as his short legs would go, all the while looking behind him at his bovine pursuer.

I had this strange feeling that I was living in a cartoon, and that any moment the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote would come tearing around the corner of the house. "No," I corrected myself. "This is real, and it's the life you chose,"

Meanwhile, Cherokee escaped. Emma re-captured Fiona and tied her to the fence for milking. I went back to my household chores.

Everything was quiet for about 15 minutes. Then I heard Emma shriek and yell, "Stop, Fiona!"

"Oh my gosh!" I thought, running for the door. "What has Fiona done now?"

Then I heard giggling. I stopped and grabbed my camera.