ndered if they were doing it to get out of babysitting duty with all of the grandkids that had moved back to Utah (my sister Tracy moved back from Idaho, my other sister Shannon moved back from Portugal and we moved back from Seattle). But they love it - they 10 acres, cows, garden and job at the Manti Temple keeps them very busy. And we love it because it's a fun place to visit. The kids love the cows, frogs, etc that they can play with, not to mention the 4-wheelers, fishing, etc, that's right in their backyard. Chickens are the latest addition to the "country home that was never going to be a farm."In March I took a trip to one of my favorite places on earth - Escalante. A few pics to follow, but first - we're driving down a 60 mile dirt road at about 60 mph when we come to a cattle guard with a cow stuck in it. It was all I could do to stop my Jeep before piling broadside into that beast! Poor thing was resting on its belly with his legs dangling inside the rails of the guard, but not for long. When we pulled up he started bucking violently to escape the guard. He got himself to the side of the guard when his front legs broke free and his hind legs got up on top of the rails, causing him to front flip off the guard and into the pit below. I couldn't believe what I had just seen. It was pitch black so I couldn't see him but could hear it breathing very, very deeply. My friends pulled up behind me and we assessed the situation. The more this cow fought to escape, the more stuck he became as his head and shoulders wedged underneath the guard, legs in the air. My friend Chris was licking his chops at the opportunity to shoot the animal and slice it up for steak dinner. I had just bought a winch for my Jeep so we decided to try to pull it out. I have a tow strap we tied around its hind legs. This took us a while since we were a bit concerned the exercise might snap his legs or strip the skin from its calves or something. In the end, we went for it, assuming the cow would die if we didn't try. So we got the animal secured with the strap and began pulling. he fought a bit at first, but then just let us drag him out. He didn't even raise his head as he dragged along the ground! We got him to safe ground and it just layed there. I thought it may just give up the ghost right then and there. Chris reminded me of a friend who had a horse stuck in the mud, and the only way he could get it moving was to whip the snot out of it with his belt. So what did I do. Took of my belt and beat that cow on the ass until it finally got up on its wobbly legs and wandered off into the night! Our good deed was done. Sorry, no pictures of the cow episode, but here are some hiking pics from the day after.
