Will the oxen mind?

[Carl Russell]

I keep track of a cabin on a nearby property where I pasture my animals in the summer. The owners are from NJ, and they come up a couple of times a year. Quite often families who belong to their church will come and use the cabin also, for a week or two at a time.

Several years ago I stopped in as one such family was unpacking, just to check that everything was in order. Chit-chat led to discussion of my oxen who were residents of the field at the time. “Do you think your oxen would mind if we walked through the pasture?”. “Well, no” I said, thinking to myself, what the @#$% do they care?

Well, the next day as I was cleaning the barn, or something, I heard a truck vrooming up the drive with children’s voices screaming “Help, Mr. Russell, Help!!!” My neighbor Mike was driving with a look of alert confusion on his face, he’d been hijacked by these kids running down the road, so he brought them to me.

“Your bulls chased our dad into the woods, help, help”.

“My bulls did what?”…. It wasn’t worth it. I just looked at Mike and jumped into the back of his truck as he burned a Uey and headed back up the hill to the cabin.

When we arrived I really got concerned, and confused. There were both of my steers, no where near the woods, one laying down chewing cud, the other grazing nearby. Mike just looked a bit more nervous, and said nothing.

As I ventured into the field toward the woods where they said their dad was, I heard a voice calling to me. Now I’m totally uncertain. Finally I can make out this guy standing behind some alders down by the beaver pond. I holler that everything seems pretty tame up here, and it’s OK to come out. Nothing doing. He wants me to walk all the way down there to escort him back.

As I get closer he finally steps out from the bushes, and he’s holding a rifle:eek:. I’m thinking, “I don’t even want to know”. Just as I get close enough to speak comfortably with him, my Jim ox comes charging down the field to see what I’m up to. 2500 lbs of curious playful ox, is not what this guy wants to see, and he jumps back into the bushes.

Anyway I had to lead my ox by the horn to keep him under control (mind you I just walked up to him and held his horn), because our friend was just too frightened to enter the field with the ox loose. Seems, like every flatlander, get a weekend in the country, do what country people do, shoot target practice!!! Go into a field with a couple of really big bovine, lay on your belly, and start shooting rounds at an old board.

The Jim ox was pretty excited about the fireworks and ran over to investigate. Up the guy jumped and started running. Well the chase was on. :pI only wish I could have seen it. Jersey dude running down across the field, arms in the air, gun in one hand, hat in the other, screaming for help…..with a really big Holstein bucking and snorting up his butt.

No, really, I felt sorry for him.:rolleyes: DA!! (that stands for 2 words, the first one is Dumb, the second is A…)

And the wild bulls? I walked them home, 1/2 mile with no halters.

Will my oxen mind???:eek:

Carl

[Rod]

I agree that we can sometimes find humor looking at others react to what to us is familiar and nonthreatening in our environment. It reminds me of someone I used to know, a young man from Brooklyn NY. At the time he was the youth pastor in the city Church we attended and also worked for me part time on my land surveying crew. He was totally out of his element in the outdoor work and suffered for it. He would wear a stocking hat over his ears and gloves on the hottest summer days when in the woods because he was afraid of the bugs. Any wildlife would see him running in a panic to put distance between himself and the animal. He never was able to learn to pound in a surveyors stake and we could not trust him to use a machete or an axe for fear he would cut himself. Once he came to our Christmas tree farm with his wife to cut a tree. After trying with a bow saw for 45 minutes with no success I had to cut it down for him. My crew chief good naturally called him a wimp on many occasions.

But in his element he was a bear. He would go into the most dangerous parts of the city and engage the toughest hardened street kids and gangs challenging them to the claims of the Gospel and adding many of them to his youth group and the Church. I watched him work like a gentle drill Sargent keep these renegades in line as he discipled and taught them the principles of Christianity and living productive lives. He was very effective in helping to change many lives and was an inspiring testimony in the way he was able to confront a very dangerous and rebellious culture with the power of the Gospel turning many of it’s wayward youth onto paths of decent humanity and followers of Christ.

I remember many years back when I was an avid reader of Hot Rod magazines on the back cover their was usually an add for Atlas piston rings. Showed a muscle man with a piston ring in his hand with the caption ” tough but of so gentle” That was Vinny the youth Pastor that I knew and as he was terrified to follow me into the woods I admit that I would be terrified to follow him into the blacktop jungle that he knew so well.
I know I am completely comfortable with bulls and horses and cows and the like but venture to say in the environment that he confronted I would be a wimp also.

[Robert MoonShadow]

Rod: I understand & agree with you about perspectives, here. I grew up in Chicago… actually, they were small communities (Des Plaines/Mt Prospect) that had the city grow up around them. I actually lived on a small (14 acre) farm which is now under the runways of O’hara Airport. So, as the gangs & big-city culture came to be around me, I had the advantage of knowing “this ain’t normal”. I’m fortunate enough to be able to survive in either environment – city, small town, country, woods. I left the city just as soon as I could. But I still remember the rules of survival: danger comes from doorways, not the streetside; eyes focused forward – ears focused behind you; listen to your instincts. Its actually the same in the woods: pay attention or get hurt. Regardless of the location, confidence is key. Whether its based on a religious confidence that your god will protect you, or because you’ve spent so much time in the woods/city you know you can overcome the dangers. I’ve had a few “mishaps” in the woods, too. The ability to laugh at myself has seen me through a lot of tough times. And as for that ‘friendly’ ox: I’d have run, too! Or shot it. And then run. 😮 My philosophy in such a situation is simple: If it outweighs me by several hundred pounds & is running towards me, I’m not going to wait around to see what its intentions are. I’ll be embarrassed later. If I make it. 😀

[Anonymous]

@Robert MoonShadow 5677 wrote:

😮 My philosophy in such a situation is simple: If it outweighs me by several hundred pounds & is running towards me, I’m not going to wait around to see what its intentions are. I’ll be embarrassed later. If I make it. 😀

That last part reminds me of the time my buddy’s girlfriend fixed me up on a blind date with her cousin. The minute you hear “she’s got a great personality”, or “… but she’s got a pretty face” run like hell!:D

[Carl Russell]

I know you guys, I was insensitive to his background, but the point wasn’t that he was scared of the bull once he started chasing him, it was that he wasn’t afraid of them when he decided to go into the pasture to shoot his gun.

I know it was my fault that I didn’t realize that “walking in the pasture” was code for “shooting my gun in the pasture”. I would have gotten up and ran too, ’cause that steer was probably pretty excited by the gunfire.

I realize that he had no context from which to understand why his idea made no sense. I actually like the guy, and I’m really glad he was fast enough, but I really have to laugh at the image.

You know it’s like the lawyer who wanted to be a dairy farmer. He had to hire someone else to call in his cows because they didn’t believe him.

The same thing can mean different things to different people.

Carl

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