Tribute to cows

When I dreamed of where I wanted to live one day, I would always come back to the same thing. I wanted a big ranch house with a veranda on it and I wanted cows in my back yard. Well my dream came true. Since we put the cattle on pasture this spring I have enjoyed watching them out the kitchen window and now from the deck. It is odd but they are definitely creatures of habit.
Between 6:30 and 7 pm they move from the west to the east (passing our house in the process). They will spend the night on the east hill. Then when I go swimming in the morning (6 am) they are on their way back to the west.
The other morning I went for a run and I was grateful for a "cow habit" again. They don`t like walking on gravel. So when they come by the driveway on their evening stroll they walk beside it. There is a nice packed dirt trail parallel to the driveway now. It is much easier running on that than loose gravel. You only have to look out for the odd cow pie and time your step so you run over it rather than through it!!!
Sometimes when we are eating breakfast together they are by the house again. We have an electric fence around the place right now so the cows won`t rub against the house. You would think that they would learn but they don`t. We are often entertained once again by the cows shocking themselves and jumping a few feet back.