Backyard Fun on Union Road as the Trail Drive Begins
Thanks to Ginnie G. for
these glimpses of real cowhand life on pavement,
and Megen for a spectacular eye-witness account of the action.
Don't Look Now, But They Went That-a-way!!!
It may
look like everything is back to normal, but there's another
breakaway down Union Road a bit farther. Cattle roaming
the streets. Sorry, no pictures
for that one!
"First
came the wagons with people, mules and bells. Then came the herd, but
there were so many cowhands
that we couldn't make out the cows until they made a break for it.
At first they
were just in the oleanders across the road, but then a bunch ran way up
and over the hill where we could hear
the cowboys yelling and whistling. Pretty soon they all stormed
back down to the pavement.
"Meg and the girls were watching further down on Union. We
called with a warning and the city workers also
warned the people down there to either move up a side street or get into
the back of a nearby pickup. Sure enough
the cows got away down there too. Meg said one steer ran up
the road where she was then turned into another road
where 2 cowhands had to go get it."
--- Ginnie ---
7/22/09
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"So the last
time I saw the cattle drive there were about 30 calves surrounded by about
50 horses
--it was cute, not scary...thank goodness for Mom's warning from up the hill
this year!
There were 50 medium-sized steers and about 30 horses with riders
(only about 6 seemed to be real cowboys...)
"I waited [with two kids in a
stroller] for what seemed like forever on the corner of Union and Riverglen,
the street that leads to our house. Soon we saw the wagons; then
we saw the dust! Dust? Isn't Union paved?
Yes, but quite a few of the cattle were climbing the banks up to the
houses on our side.
We heard lots of whistling, yelling, and stressed-out shouts from the
few cowboys who looked like they actually
had moved cattle before. The rest of the people on horseback
were just having a nice stroll down the hill.
"The last wagon before the cattle had warned everyone with kids to
leave the sidewalks and climb into the city truck
parked at our intersection. Kind of hard to do with my double
stroller! I moved us up the small hill on Riverglen,
about 30 yards up from Union. It seemed reasonably far away from
the action. Then a black steer with a
shiny set of horns ripped around the corner and headed straight for
us! Not cute little calves this year!
I raced to a parked car and wedged the stroller against it and
hoped for the best...luckily it turned away as it passed us
and jogged into the neighborhood. One cowboy gave chase and
another followed.
They herded it back by us so we moved behind the other side of the
car.
It was pretty exciting--a little more than we wanted though!
Poor daughter #1 was really scared for a minute,
but then asked to see more...we'll have to wait 'til next year!
"Great pics, mom! I was too busy running with 75 lbs of kids+stroller to get any pics of my own!"
--- Megen ---