I always KNEW cows were evil! Thanks for giving me a good laugh!
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That's probably one of my favorite memes. Of all time. I actually laugh out loud every time I see it.I always KNEW cows were evil! Thanks for giving me a good laugh!
That must have been a VERY painful crawl. Good for your second donkey, and I'm glad you didn't get revenge on the first. It's funny . . . most of the time I read how people think cow eyes are so pretty and that's why they like them so much. I'm hearing the flip side here on this frum!Okay, not totally irrational. But, seriously, my fear is based on their EYES?!? I've never milked a cow (although I have milked goats) and have not been contained with any in small, enclosed spaces (like chutes) that would get me close enough to get seriously hurt. It's just those eyes!
Since I was managing editor of the regional paper and news editor of the radio station, I can assure you there was no policy against reporting animal deaths at those outlets. In fact, the regional paper published a weekly farm newspaper and no animal deaths in that either.
I do believe wild hogs could and might have killed a woman. Sometimes, nature sometimes just behaves naturally. I may have to look up the Houston article.
Many people asked me what happened to the donkey that fractured my pelvis. Some seemed to think I should have had him put down. That didn't happen. He went to a rescue group and is now living a good life.
The accident was entirely MY fault. He was trying to tell me not to feed another donkey in the pen. If I had listened the first or second time he nudged my back, nothing bad would have happened. Instead, I -- without looking -- pushed him back twice with my elbow. Clearly, in his mind, I wasn't paying attention, so he did what he had to do to get me to stop doing something that was annoying him.
BTW, the second donkey "yelled" at Jerry, who took off after him and let me crawl to safety.
Yeah, good the goats liked you or they could have decided to do you in . . . or put you out of your suffering!Yes, that was a crawl I would NEVER want to repeat. I had to use my "good" leg to kick open a gate into the miniature goats' pen. They, at least, all liked me.
I can't recall any specific articles about children, but we certainly had stories about accidents involving farm equipment.
It doesn't even have to be a LARGE object; something called a power take off, or PTO, is a mechanical gearbox that has the potential for doing incredible damage if it catches a hand, an arm or a sleeve. Even people with years of experience have been mangled or killed while going about their daily routines.
But that might be the key -- daily routine. One of the big tractors or combines might look frighteningly huge to someone who has never sat inside one. But, if you grew up riding on your dad's knee, exposure makes it seems much less dangerous -- like some kind of supersized SUV.
I lived in the country but was not a farm kid. Many of my peers were driving tractors long before I was driving a car.
On the one hand, you need to expose kids to the realities of farm life. There's big machines, big structures (getting trapped in a grain bin can be fatal; the stored corn acts like quicksand and can pull someone under and suffocate them in minutes) and big animals. Learning to exist safely with all of those potential dangers is essential. But that has to be balanced with consideration of the actual physical abilities of the child as well as the level of intellectual understanding of danger.
I see little kids riding on ATVs out here that I would barely trust to ride safely on a bicycle.
Many farm folks take a lot of pride in their kids' abilities to do things around the farm on their own, to demonstrate their independence and work ethic. To paraphrase one of my favorite celebrities, sanding off all the sharp edges doesn't prepare your child to live in a world with a lot of corners. Those kids are certainly learning some valuable lessons.
But common sense has to be involved, and sometimes, that seems to be a resource that can be in short supply.
Hey, I took three years of journalism/newspaper staff in high school. I'm very fond of the field. I would have majored in it in college except the deadlines made me a neurotic nut! Actually, I was a neurotic teenager and the deadlines just worsened my condition. I have very fond memories, though, of getting the newspaper out, especially when we had to come back to school and work at night. Also, my strict, tough-as-nails journalism teacher is one reason I refuse to accept new unacceptable grammar rules, regardless of who wants them and why. I'll never forget her or betray her.I might have welcomed an act of mercy by the goats at that point .
Yeah, farming can easily be fatal to kids and adults alike.
Not bragging, but I WAS an award-winning editorial writer and columnist, and I totally enjoyed you giving me the opportunity to post about something besides the basic care and feeding of chickens (which I also like to do). Thanks!
BTW, don't expect perfect grammar, spelling and punctuation in any of my posts. I'm not on the clock anymore and no one edits my writing now!