Cows Up!

I'll explain the "Cows Up!" in a moment.  But first, about my day at Afton Station.   It was another busy one, with 17 visitors.   They hailed from Tempe AZ, Toledo OH, North Carolina, Tennessee, Spain (Madrid), some locals, and a father and son from the town of Fred, Texas.   I loved the name of the town and was curious about the town itself.  They described it as just about as exciting as Afton, which translates to "slow and empty".  It's down in south Texas near the Louisiana border, and the guys were doing a little Route 66ing on their way back from Indiana, where they were looking for an Amish wheelmaker who could duplicate some wheels for their horse buggy back in Fred.  Now that's an interesting reason for a road trip!     Those who didn't come to visit were a group of about 30 Danish motorcyclists who whizzed right past, just like last week's Danes.  Have I done something to offend the country of Denmark?   I hope not!  Granted, we occasionally raced our sailboat against Danish boats back in the 80s and we usually won, but I've been nothing but Denmark-friendly since then.  I buy my share of Danish pastries and even have a soft spot in my retro heart for Danish modern furniture.   :-)  

Ron "Tattoo Man" Jones helped out today, and he brought me a bottle of "Tattoo" soda, a newly-minted product from Pop's in Arcadia.   www.pops66.com.  It was a pretty awful mixture of a lot of herbs and teas, with a rather bad aftertaste.  But Tattoo Man liked the name for obvious reasons, so he bought a six-pack.   Betty also dropped in and visited with us for a while.  She told us about her very special banana pudding, which made everyone within earshot very hungry.  

Ok, about the cows......    Ron McCoy and I have had an ongoing discussion about why cows do what they do.   We pass hundreds (thousands?) of cows on our way back and forth from Tulsa to Afton, and we have noted that sometimes all the cows are standing up, sometimes they're all lying down, and sometimes it's a little of both.  After some hunting on the internet, Ron came up with some sites that explain it all.  What it boils down to is this:  They pretty much do whatever they feel like doing.  It doesn't have much to do with the weather or the time of day.  Like people, they tend to eat then lie down for a nap. Today, all the cows were UP.  www.milkproduction.com Incorporating dairy cow behavior into management tools, in case you're interested.