“I've always made a total effort, even when the odds seemed entirely against me. I never quit trying; I never felt that I didn't have a chance to win.” ~ Arnold Palmer
A couple weekends ago, I was out for a ride. As I was passing through the pasture with the tail-end calvers, I glanced down into the steep canyon to my right. There, in the very bottom, was a black cow. Grazing, switching her tail, every so often looking downward into the ditch.
"I spect we best go have a look," I said to Patch as I turned his nose downhill.
Having a look - such an innocent, completely harmless little phrase, right? I wasn't thinking so a few hours later, I'll tell you that.
In the uttermost bottom part of the steepest canyon in this particular pasture was a little red heifer calf. Nice-looking little bugger, but it hadn't had a meal since it'd been born considering its gaunt sides and the tightness of momma's bag.
I hoisted it out of the bottom of the ditch and worked it a few feet up the side hill, and then I left to check everybody else. Thinking, hoping...praying?...that I would come back and it would all magically be fine and normal.
When I swung back by an hour later, the calf was back in the bottom of the ditch. Despite my hopes and prayers, this situation was obviously going to need some help taking care of itself. So I went back down to the calf and spent the next two hours trying to get it up on top of the canyon where I could reach it with the truck.
I didn't allow myself to think about just how I was going to get the calf into the truck, transport calf and momma up the road without having an escapee, tie everybody up to get the calf to suck...I was going to cross those bridges when I came to them. More...
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