Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Too Many, uh, Cows in the Kitchen?

Even one cow is too many for any kitchen, even if she's only two years old and not quite fully grown (most of the way there though). I think it must be her youth that makes her so brazen, but she could just be an anomaly among cows. I call her Bananas, because she likes them so much (the same cow who tries to enter the staff room everyday after break tea to clean up the peels). But I suppose I should start from the beginning...
It was a Monday morning, which for me is laundry day. I was patiently performing that mundane task when I heard Bananas coming through the gate into my yard. My neighbor's kitchen is seperate from her house, and attached to some storage room (what was the kitchen for the previous occupant of my house, prior to the additions). I was washing my clothes in front of this mud/thatch hut when Bananas came around the corner, walked right by me and tried to enter the first door, the storage room, but it was blocked and she couldn't force her way through. So she backed up, stuck one big back hoof in one of my basins full of soapy water and, luckily, dirty clothes, and continued to the next door. It was open, and had no obstructions to bar her passage.
I continued with my laundry for a bit, thinking she must get bored of the room after a little while. But, the door had closed behind her and thinking she might panic and bust the place up, I went in to shoo her out. Bananas had other ideas. I walked in to find her munching happily on my neighbors food stores, particularly the matooke (plantains) and potatoes. I tried to stop her, but if you've ever tried to force a cow to do anything with brute force alone, you'll know you're no match for such a large animal (I've never been cow tipping, but I imagine it goes something like this did). I decided the only way to get her out of there and save my neighbors food was to lure her out with her favorite food of all, little yellow bananas.
So I ran into my own kitchen, grabbed the fruit, and began the long and arduous process of luring a 1500 lb hungry animal out of a room full of food. After much convincing, pushing, giving of bananas, throwing lure bananas, and frustrated arguments (all on my party), and after she knocked over the bench and cookstove, I got her turned around and out the door. This I also wish I had captured on film. I bolted the door closed after her, and felt a huge sense of accomplishment. Too many cows in the kitchen? Not with this trusty cowpoke around.

2 comments:

casey said...

Wait, is this Nikki or Megan in UG? (I am impressed with the journalism!)
Keep up the blogs! You don't even have to wait for crazy animal adventures (although, these are awesome and extremely entertaining). The mundane details of your life right now are WAY better than the mundane details of mine---although getting yelled at by a janitor at the library last night was pretty exciting:-)
Talk to you soon.

Unknown said...

Ditto what Casey said! Honestly Megan, you had me dying laughing imagining you and the rat getting ready to rumble!!! You should name him Pete and hope he never comes back!
PS Glad to hear it was Dodger and not Nikki that peed in your bed! (I did that one too many times in Casey's bed, but let's keep that between you and me, buddy)