by George Collins » Mon Jun 16, 2014 11:56 pm
This past weekend, my two oldest boys still living at home went catfishing in the Mississippi Delta at a place called Lake Washington. They didn't catch enough cats to justify leaving the county much less the three hour drive it actually takes to get there. But then, that's a whole other story. Point being, neither of them were here for Ella's arrival nor our initial attempts at milking her. What's worse though, Youngblood wasn't here to help guide me through our initial trials. However, as noted earlier, my girls and I. with a hearty dose of consultation from my mother, somehow muddled through it with no one, or no cow, dying.
Today however, about noon, all my trained-up girl help left to go to the International Ballet Competition in Jackson Mississippi. That left me with a perfectly green crew and, thank God, Youngblood.
Now keep in mind, Youngblood grew up milking cows during a time when the cow didn't have a vote. When the farmer got ready for the milk, come hell, high water or ornery cows, he took it. If the cow was gentle, so much the better. If not, she yielded; not the farmer. And by the time this evening's milking rolled around, Youngblood had already seen us struggle through the process a few times.
However, after a well-timed begging, he agreed to help. There he was, slow-footin it out into Ella's pen just as I was about to apply the hobbles. He simply said, "No." I froze in place. He walked over to the fence, got a scrap piece of rope that happened to be laying handy, eye-balled the appropriate length and with one quick swipe of his razor sharp knife, he had, what he deemed to be, the perfect length of rope. He strode up to her with a lifetime's experience bolstering his confidence and quickly affixed Ella's hind legs together so closely that when she did try to walk, she looked like a ballerina on point.
He next saw that more restraint was needed so he had me tie her halter to a post. During most of this afternoon's milking, ol girl was stretched out about as far as a cow can be stretched out without tipping over. (Cow Tipping anyone?)
We got every drop of milk.
Total haul on the day was over 6 gallons. I can't be sure because Youngblood demanded payment in milk for his chickens so I poured him out a sizable quantity thinking that I was money, er milk, well spent.
"Solve world hunger, tell no one." "The, the, the . . . The Grinch!"
"If you can't beat them, bite them."