Sunday, March 8, 2009

Invaded by Cows and a Bull, Chaos, 7th & 8th March 2009

What a day I had yesterday. For a start, it was raining and the wind was so strong it was blowing the rain sideways. Needless to say the builders didn't turn up - who can blame them. Buster wouldn't step outside until I donned a coat and had a walk round and stocked up on more wood and peat blocks. I noticed in the primrose bed, made just a week ago, that there were some deep cow prints. I assumed one of Martin's cows had escaped and wandered about. They do sometimes. I went and shut our double gates in case they/he/she/it returned.

I took the wood inside and had a good old spring cleaning day. Swept and washed the kitchen/diner floor, hoovered our bedroom and the snug and that's all there is to our house until the extension is finished. I looked out of the window while I was floor washing and there was a whole herd of cows, plus a very large white bull wandering around our 4 front lawns.

I grabbed a stick from the porch and shouted at them and tried to open the gate. I was so cross I didn't have time to be scared of the bull. As I moved towards the gate, the herd ran up to our vegetable area. There is a slope up to it which I grassed last year, now there is no grass left after they'd trampled up and down there. They trailed up to the top area, where we have a few fruit trees planted and another lawn. Well, it was a lawn, it now has huge hoof holes in it too. The bull kept himself at a distance from the cows but eventually moved off after them. I tried to steer them towards the gate but they turned right at the bottom of the veg plot down past our stream and up into the meadow. There is a path up the middle of the meadow that Jim has made over time with the mower. It's taken months to get it in shape. Again, it is now grass full of deep holes, some of them as much as 18 inches deep. That bull is very heavy.

I decided at that point that if they stayed on the meadow they couldn't do too much more damage and headed down to our neighbours' house to see whether she had any of the local farmers' phone numbers. I was a bit upset by now, Jim's still in the UK and I was horrified at the damage the cows were causing.

Hilary, bless her, scooped me up, donned her wellingtons and we all piled into her car. Me, Hilary, small son Tom and Millie, our dog Buster's girlfriend. Buster ran behind. By now the cows were heading down from our house and turned right, which meant they were probably Kevin's. He has built a large barn but there isn't any fencing on the roadside there. Hilary drove them along the road in her little car and they duly wandered off to the barn. We drove to Kevin's house, a bit further along and knocked.

Hilary had warned me that Ireland is the land of 'Never apologise and take no responsibility'. Sure enough, Keven ummed and aahed when I told him his cows and bull had destroyed our garden. Oh really? What, the bull? Oh, I'm surprised at that. I guess I'll have to lock them in. And he closed his door. Ye Gods, they are a funny lot. Hilary ran me back up my drive and we wandered around inspecting the damage. She tried to reassure me saying it's not too bad. At least they were gone and my gate was shut. By now it was 6 pm. I walked around despondently.

The evening was OK, I watched a bit of tv, had my dinner and painted the insides of the couple of containers I'm making. I read lots of blogs and played Lexulous on Facebook then went to bed. Inspired by Ces's blog, I had a go at pen and ink drawing whilst in bed. I eventually fell asleep around 5am! I will not show you my efforts.

Today the weather was even worse, although I did have a couple of bouts of sunshine, very briefly. I took photos of the damage and as it was sunny at that point, of some flowers. That cheered me up a bit. On and off it's snowed and hailed and the wind has been really strong, there are gale force warnings around Ireland. I hope it's calmed down by tomorrow, when Jim has to come back on the ferry.




Cow foot prints, well, just deep holes really.











An ex lawn














There's plenty of this about. Cow poo!














This lovely slow growing conifer's in a bad way. Some branches have been eaten off but I'll put some string round it and that might help.












Buster smelling where the cows had been. That's the churned up path to the vegetable garden.



















Probably the worst part, this is the mowed path up to the top of the meadow. Might take a bit of work to sort that out.











On a lighter note, I did take some photos of the flowers as usual:



A real 'host of golden daffodils'.


















These double daffodils are up by the gate, which Jim has now painted








The painted gates. Buster on the wrong side of them as usual. Can you see the lake on the right half of the photo? That's Lough Graney. I love the shadow of the gates here.











These pretty primulas are just to the left of the gates. I built a small rockery there last year.


















Our little stream is fast running with the rain, hail and snow




















These little daffodils are so dainty. They came over from our UK garden in the pot holding the Ginkgo Balboa and have thrived ever since.










Best of all, at tea time today, Hilary called round just to make sure I was ok. Wasn't that kind of her? She had the 2 boys with her, who played rugby around the garden for a little while. Danny, the eldest, feeds the cats for us when we both go away together. They are a lovely family.

I have made a couple of little pots for Jim. He said I had to make him something for his birthday as I can't get to the shops! Nothing very exciting, but I've had fun doing them. I need some more varnish to finish them off, which Jim is bringing from the UK.














































It is covered with rich coloured eastern spices, some hand enhancement and the inside is a textured finish in a colour I mixed. No idea what he'll use it for. I also covered this bucket. We are always finding odd nails and screws, washers and such around the place, so I thought this could be used as a handy receptacle for them.





























I covered the bucket in spring flowers. The top band has a crackled effect. It, too, will look better when varnished. I love using old containers, changing them in some way. The ultimate in re-cycling. The top one was a bubble bath container with the top half cut off. I think the bucket came with peanuts in it. Who'd be married to me, eh? Sorry it's a bit of a long post.

15 comments:

Stampmaiden said...

Oh Gina, I love reading your blog and the things that are going on across the globe. A group of cows and a bull are not something I'm used to reading about and I was surprised to hear and see how much damage they caused. All your hard work will soon heal. The grass will spread out again and your conifer will survive.
Love your rock garden, daffodils and iron fence! Oh and lucky you to have the view of a lake!
Linda

HelenMWalters said...

Poor you, having to deal with all those cows. I hope the damage can be sorted out.

Rachel Green said...

Your poor garden!

BT said...

Stampmaiden, I'm so glad you're enjoying my blog. I suppose it is quite different here! We've had the odd cow or two in before, but managed to get them out fairly quickly. This was a new challenge!

Thanks, Helen, I'm sure we'll get it sorted!

I know Rachel. But we'll manage it, I'm sure.

DK, glad you like the pictures. Nobody mentioned my pots!! Booo

DK said...

LOL beauuuuutiful pots! :D

heheh you KNOW I love them, I still have my blue pot on my desk as a pen pot!!

ArtistUnplugged said...

What a cattle tale....I was afraid that they were going to cause even more damage but that does a real number on the ground, shame. Enjoyed seeing photos of the fence, flowers and rock garden. First time to visit your site. Thanks for stopping by my site!

BT said...

DKLeather. Wow, THAT's better!!! I feel much happier now! Nobody mentioned my huge green pot the other day either. Insecurity creeping in. I must say I love that one!!
Hello Artist Unplugged thanks for dropping in. Glad you enjoyed the photo and my horrid cattle tale!

Anonymous said...

Eh up mother. What a farce. I'm sorry but couldnt help smiling at you runinng about shouting at the cows. Ahh what a mad life.

The pots are splendid, like the spring flower one, sounds very practical.

I'd tarmac the gardens. lol. Nice or Hilary and her gang as ever.

xx

BT said...

Hello son, it was quite funny, I must admit, me waving a big stick and shouting and swearing at the cows and not afraid of the bull!! Too cross! Yes, tarmac or concrete is obviously the way to go!!!
Glad you like the pots. The inside of the spice one is splendid! all knobbly.

Anonymous said...

shoot the feckers, thats what i say! i want your beige rug that says sold, can you unsell it? anyway it sounds awful i wouldnt have had a clue what to do, we had a massive rat in the garden on saturday so i stuck the cat out through the cat flap to sort it and he just came back in. Maybe you could get something bigger than a cow, and elephant? At least you have been busy while Jim was away. Hope you feeling better now, oh and you are a fine crafter of all things crafty XX

BT said...

Ah, you are a super daughter in law! An elephant might make more mess than the herd of cows?? Bigger feet, heavier, long trunk!! There were several babies with them, so you'd have liked them.
I laughed at the cat and the rat!! Typical. Thank you for the crafty comments! Sorry, that rug went a long time ago. It's your colours, isn't it?
Love, see you seen
xx

marianne said...

OMG What a disaster!!!!!
They destroyed your garden....
Did you talk to the farnmer yet?
Quite an adventure this....I am happy to live in a (small) city now, I don´t miss my farmhouse at all.

marianne said...

PS nice pots!!
And thanks for putting the other one on your blog just for me!

aims said...

Holy cow what a mess! Sigh.

Sally Pearson said...

We live in the countryside in France, and this morning we had a rampaging cow in our garden who left deep holes in the lawn, plus a smashed gate and wall where she then to jump out! Just now I googled 'invaded by cows' to see who else had had the same experience - and it came up with you fascinating blog! Oh, the joys of country living - and the wonders of Google!!