Old Gold The Cows and the Cats

 Back on our farm in Virginia we have an pickup truck that has seen its better days.

It now sits up in the tractor shed covered in bird droppings.  It used to sit down near the gate and get some use.   I had to drive it now and then for different things.  You could see the road whizzing past at the brisk 40 mph clip through the rusted out floor boards.  It was had a three on the tree style shifter.  The throttle pedal was long gone. It its place was a rod sticking up through the floor board. We had a narrow slab of plyboard we laid over it as the "pedal".   It also had one of those Ooooogah horns on it we used to call the cows.  I think they are called a Bull Horn.  It could make different sounds, but it always brought the cows without fail.   I am almost  100% sure one of the calls it made was bovine language saying "This means WAR!"  because they sure got agitated when it made that sound!  

Above and below: the only two photos I currently have of Old Gold our faithful old Chevy pickup truck.  

           Below is a video of a bull horn test from a truck. This sounds just like ours.

Except they are only doing one call.  

    My brother in law learned to drive and  he had him a part time job at a local dairy barn.  It was only six miles or so from our farm.  Sometimes I'd drive him there in that truck.  Sometimes he'd drive.   He was 15 so he'd of course always prefer to feel like a big man driving himself to work.   I brought a cat  home from a relative and unknown to me she was pregnant.  She had a large litter of kittens.  Once they got to be half grown cats and long since weaned I decided it was time to find homes for them.  I managed to find homes for a couple.  One was sick and died of a deformity.   The remainder I talked Chris into taking to the dairy barn.  The cats there had a nice home.  They worked keeping mice and rats away. They had a warm barn to sleep in.  They got petted now and then.  Company from other cats.  Always fat from milk and mice.   I had two kids I was raising and I was poor as a church mouse myself.  I couldn't afford veterinary care and to feed all those cats.   We were living in a trailer home at the time.    

Above: my now adult brother in law Chris standing in the plaid shirt.  His daughter Allison, my niece driving a gator.  

      I had Chris back the truck up to my deck.  He stayed in the drivers seat and I brought the kitties out a couple at a time.   He left the farm driving Old Gold with 

six cats running around his head and shoulders, up on the dashboard, in the windows, cursing me for everything he was worth.    He deserved it richly for all the times he'd called the house trying to get me to vouch for him that he was sick and had to come home while really he was skipping school.   Such was life on the farm.... I can still see him heading out the long gravel lane veering from ditch to ditch while those cats rampaged in the cab of the truck. bah ha!  I love my crazy family and our country ways. 

Our pasture field full of buttercups

above: standing on the dam of our spring fed pond on the farm. It is a peaceful spot.   Good fishing hole. 

Above: Jim and Kenny fixing fence

Above: the barn

Above: front gate of the farm house

Above: smokehouse and clothes line

Above:  Brother in law Jim in the green hat, husband Kenny in the jean shirt, son in law Adam in the gray shirt.  

Jim wanted to give Adam a ride on the side by side... Adam refused to go with him. Below you can see why:  Jim has him a pretty good beer buzz going. lol.... 

I didn't care. I wasn't scared. I got in with him and off we went ripping around the farm like crazy.   I like to live dangerously. 

above: Jim trying to talk Adam into a beer.  

Above: Kenny and Jim... Jim is dancing in the spirit on the dam of the pond.