09:33 – It was 44.5F (7C) when I took Colin out at 0645.
We had some bovine entertainment this morning. Barbara was looking out of the kitchen window at the back fence and noticed that the storm had ripped the top off one of the trees along the fence line. Most of the top was hung up in the tops of other trees, but part of it had fallen to the ground, only a meter or so from the fence. As she watched, one of the cows trotted over to it and started eating the leaves off it. That one was soon joined by several others who noticed what she was doing and trotted over to join her. Before long, there were probably a dozen cows milling around trying to grab mouthsful.
We’d just fed Colin, and he was expecting his second time out for his morning constitutional. I didn’t want to do that, because some of the cows were actually pressing up against the fence, and I was afraid a confrontation would occur. When it comes right down to it, one 70-pound BC is no match for several tons of annoyed cows. So I sat and waited for the cows to disperse, which they didn’t.
I took Colin out front. He was fascinated for a few minutes watching two school-bus loads of kids down in the gas station lot. Eventually, he turned back to his usual course, and trotted west along our south tree line. He got about 50 or 60 meters into our yard when he noticed the cow collection right along the west fence, so he converted that trot into a full speed charge, growl-barking the whole way across our back yard. At least a dozen cows were trotting south along the back fence line. Obviously, they decided that discretion was the better part of valor.