Somebody Moved the Cow

Dudo is a bit obsessed with his new toy mice. He follows me everywhere dragging what remains of the first two mice in the hopes that I’ll play with him — which I do. Here are some photos to entertain you while I tell a little story that has nothing to do with cats (or mice).

MOUSE #1.

The Yellow Farmhouse
Jerry’s mother, Alice, once told us how she and her friend Millie had taken a drive from Sioux Falls, South Dakota to visit another friend about a half hour away in Dell Rapids. There’s not a lot out there. Even less 30 years ago. Alice and her friend had done the same drive many times and they both knew the way like the backs of their hands.

As I just mentioned, Dell Rapids was about a 30-minute drive from Sioux Falls. Simple. They had to make just one turn. “At the yellow farm house.” They chatted the entire time. Finally, 90 minutes later, they noticed they had crossed into Minnesota.

MOUSE #2…

Alice and Millie realized they had, obviously, somehow missed that turn at the yellow farmhouse. A turn they had made for years without giving it one extra thought. They drove all the way back and then figured out what had gone wrong. Alice was indignant when she told us. “Someone went and painted that yellow house green!”

Left at the Cow
Earlier today, San Geraldo and I rented a car and drove up to the garden center to pick up six more bags of stones for the terrace. I’m navigator. As we neared the garden center, to make it a little easier on San Geraldo, I told him you’ll know to turn left when you see the cow. You might remember this instruction from my story in July about the garden center (click if you want to be reminded).

Well, somebody moved the cow.

(I’m writing this from Minnesota.)

JULY: “TURN LEFT AT THE COW.”
TODAY: SOMEBODY MOVED THE COW.

Author: Moving with Mitchell

From Brooklyn, New York; to North Massapequa; back to Brooklyn; Brockport, New York; back to Brooklyn... To Boston, Massachusetts, where I met Jerry... To Marina del Rey, California; Washington, DC; New Haven and Guilford, Connecticut; San Diego, San Francisco, Palm Springs, and Santa Barbara, California; Las Vegas, Nevada; Irvine, California; Sevilla, Spain. And Fuengirola, Málaga..

22 thoughts on “Somebody Moved the Cow”

  1. Jerry's mother and friend were probably your age at that time, yes? Hm-m-m…..LOL!
    I think Dudo loves you Mitch! Look at those eyes!

  2. LOLOLOLOLOLOL!!!!! So, how's Minnesota? That was great! Thanks for the good laugh.

    Donna's cat loves to "help" me when I'm crocheting. She will sit and watch for a while, then look away innocently while her little paw is slowly grabbing some yarn. She looks back at me with her "I wasn't doing anything" look. Cats are so much fun!

  3. Always love seeing Dudo and Moose… whatever they're doing. After I retired I worked a few days a week at the local flower shop. I'd lived in Athens all my life, as had Jim, the owner of the shop. He'd tell me to deliver flowers to that house on Harmony Road, but turn where that old barn used to be, and go to the house that used to have the front porch but they took it off… you know… that yellow one that used to be white. I knew exactly where to go, but the other employees would just look at us and shake their heads 😉 So you can be forgiven for the cow that used to be at your turn.

  4. Holy cow. A local landmark moved. Funny how verbal directions from someone who won't be with you are always qualified, here at least, with 'you can't miss it', or 'you can't go wrong'. I do miss it and do go wrong. I prefer to check on a map myself.

  5. When we bought our house it was painted a dusty blue and that's how we told people to find us: "The blue house on the right."

    After we had the house painted, a greenish-yellow, with red porch, black shutters and white trim, when we told people where we lived they'd ask, "Is it near the blue house?"

    Oy.

  6. That sneaky cow!
    I think I see her hiding behind the fence, hey maybe she thinks she's a horse now and is tied to railing like in a Western movie. You never know about those critters, especially the kind that like to fool you!

  7. I love both stories! Thanks for the laugh. There's a Cub Foods grocery store that I have been shopping at since the 80's. This past year, they removed the trees and hill across the street to build a Park and Ride bus station. Kitty-corner across from there, they took out a little bungalow and put it some kind of huge, outrageous pumping station! All this on top of this, they totally changed the intersection around. Ever since this "Uglification" project, I have driven past my Cub Foods several times.

    1. Ms. Sparrow:
      It's funny how visual our directional cues are. I couldn't tell you the names of any but one street, but I know exactly how to get to the highway from here. They'd just better not paint anything (or take out any trees)!

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