"By gosh, that's a new twist," thought
Terry as he tightened his collar against the biting wind and stared at
the heifer. She was trying to calve standing up! He eased up on her and
dropped a loop over the horns.
She stood atop a swell on the high plains
of eastern New Mexico. Terry reached her and tied 100 foot of
polyethylene water skiing rope around her horns, as well. A safety line
so he could at least get within 100 feet of her if she decided to take
off in the 300 acre pasture.
"Got any O.B. chains?" asked Terry.
"Nope, but we could make a slip knot in that poly rope," suggested Dad, owner of the ranch and resident wiseman.
Terry soon had the yellow plastic clothes
line attached to the calf's leg. The remainder of the poly rope lay
coiled ominously behind these two obstetrical wizards. It snarled and
gaped like a rhino trap. "Lemme grab some gloves outta the pickup," were
Terry's last vertical words.
He started toward the truck but stopped
when he heard the sound of thundering hooves. He glanced back over his
shoulder to see the heifer sprinting towards the Colorado border! He
felt something move underfoot and looked down to discover his boot dead
center in the discarded coils. A microsecond of his life flashed before
his eyes just as the nest of yellow plastic snakes tightened around his
ankle and jerked him off his feet!
Down the other side of the swell they
sailed, Terry tobogganing like a 200-lb ham tied to a runaway buffalo!
Dirt pounded up his pant legs as he scooted and skittered along trying
to avoid straddling the brush and yucca that lay like land mines in the
obstacle course!
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