Cow Pile

There is nothing like waking up in the morning to a trail of cow paddies exiting your laneway to get the blood pumping.  While my youngest wailed that she had to get to school suddenly experiencing an overwhelming desire for academia, I informed her that cows trump books and we need to locate the herd.  While she headed into the field to see if the cows were there, I followed the 'cow trail' outside the field to try and figure out how they got out of the field and to see if the horses would be following shortly thereafter.  I noticed the 'cows' hung out at the hay pile for a while and then drank from the heated water trough from the wrong side of the fence before they headed over to the chicken coop and unplugged the extension cord thus leaving the chickens with no heat and frozen water. I also noticed that egg production as lower than usual and wondered if in fact they had gathered eggs in the wee morning hours as well.  The tracks headed up to our house where they peeked in windows and consumed a young evergreen... and then they sashayed on by the front door and off into the forest.  By this time I had figured it all out so was not surprised when the young academic returned from the field reporting that all livestock was accounted for within the confines of the fence line...damn moose!  There was quite a party of them as evidenced by all the tracks.  So now that the moose have discovered the hay pile, heated water and supply of eggs and even though it is the end of February...it is going to be a long winter.