'Til The Cows Come Home

Getting up early is one thing I have in common with our dairy farm neighbors. I keep my lights off so as not to wake my husband or children, but I always seem to rise just as the lights are coming on at the farmhouse across the road. No, I don't have to get up to milk any cows. In the early hours of the morning, or what normal people like to think of as "For crying out loud, it's still the middle of the night!", I quietly make my way into the living room and settle into my husband's reclining chair, lean against my beloved heating pad, and try to breathe through the spasms that grip my shoulders and back. It has become my routine.

I marvel at the resolute industry these farmers display. While I sit in the warmth of my living room listening to the snores drifting out of the children's bedrooms, my neighbors are pulling on their boots and trudging out to their barns to begin the day's labor. At least, that's what usually happens.

A couple mornings ago my husband, Matt, was actually up before I was. He had to head to work extra early and was just starting the coffee when I walked in. "Go look out the front window" he urged me. A surprising sight greeted my bleary eyes.

Apparently, our neighbors have rebellious cows. Through the darkness, by the glare of flashing red and blue lights I spied one sheriff's patrol car driving slowly up the road, while another was driving slowly down the road. Between them a herd of cows guiltily plodded, looking for all the world like naughty children caught with their collective hands in a cookie jar. Maybe, tired of milk, they had gone on a beer run. This is Wisconsin after all. Maybe they had snuck out to crash a party held by cows down the road. Perhaps a secret cow fight club? What ever they had been up to, they weren't talking.

The early morning round-up has been the talk of the town. It was reported in the local police blotter. My husband even heard about those naughty cows over the radio on his way in to work the next day. And to think it all happened right out my front window. I guess getting up a little early has it's advantages.