What To Do?
With everybody sheltering at home, boredom seems to set in quickly. From what I’m hearing, cleaning, straightening up, and throwing out, all seem to be home remedies for cabin fever.
Of course, some of us are more domesticated than others. Being an old bachelor, and a widow, I have plenty of areas I could tackle to break up my days. With all the precautions we take shopping at the grocery store, it takes at least twice the time it took previously. It’s also necessary to “clean” the groceries we bring in the house before we put things on the shelf. I did the 6 a.m. grocery run one day last week, and it was well after 9:30 before I could sit down and rest.
I was reminded of our teachers, desperately trying to put together viable, appropriate, and useable content for Distance Learning for their classes. When I spoke to a class in previous weeks, the teachers were pleased to have me come and present my story. In several instances I even read a chapter from one of the books. Then I had a thought. I wonder if I could create a video to accomplish the same thing? Knowing how little time teachers have anyway, might this idea be of interest to them?
A majority of the things I write about from my hilltop are photogenic. A still picture, often used to lead off one of my columns, could easily become a video. Now, if I only knew how to edit and polish up the video, it might be useable.
Several phone calls later, it appeared this was a viable idea. First, it would certainly keep me from being bored, and without having to resort to housecleaning. They might not be highly polished and perfect videos, but with some learning time, they might be useable for classroom teachers. First, however, I had to have some video to practice on.
I started my walk in the fresh morning air. I spotted Mr. Boo standing under the olive tree. As soon as he saw me, he headed straight for me, mumbling as he came. Here was my first opportunity to record a video.
I pulled my phone off my belt, and started recording as he approached me. He came right up to me, gave me a kiss on the hand, and stood, nearly leaning on me. He obviously wanted to be petted.
I gave him a few good scratches, then rubbed his back a few times. Thinking I was done, I gave him a pat, and stepped around him to continue my walk.
That wasn’t nearly good enough for Mr. Boo. Not only did he move around in front to stop my progress, he literally ran to block my way.
Many more vigorous scratches later, I once again started around him. He immediately backed up, lowered his head, and began talking to me quite earnestly. He sounded like a bull wanting to fight.
If this were any other animal on the ranch, I would have been seriously concerned. I was alone, out in the middle of the pasture, on my driveway, with no fence, tree, or rock near me. Was I about to get butted, shoved, or in some way be injured? My gut told me, “No, this is Mr. Boo.”
Of course, he’s still a one-ton bull. I considered this as I carefully watched his actions. Each time I stepped back over to him, he’d stand quietly to allow me access to his broad back. When I started down the drive, he’d walk with me, talking and now bawling and snorting with his head down. Instead of swinging it toward me though, he hustled ahead to block my way.
After several blocking moves, I decided my best action was to try to continue down the drive to the safety of the cattleguard at the end of the drive. Caution said I needed to get something between us.
During the last 50 feet, he walked beside me swinging his head, and snorting in exactly the same manner he might use to threaten a neighboring bull. However, at no time did he offer to swing his head toward me. I never felt seriously threatened. However, it was a unnerving.
I purposely kept my pace the same all the way to the cattleguard. I stepped onto the rails carefully, then off the other side. When I turned back to the gate, I continued talking to him all the time.
He came up to me, raising his head for me to scratch. He continued to mumbling and talking. Finally, disappointed I didn’t want to continue our play, he abruptly turned and walked away. Chuckling, I continued on my walk, unhampered by a playful ton of bull.
Later, when I started back up the driveway, Mr. Boo was grazing on the hillside near the house. I walked quietly hoping to get into the yard without being spotted. Whether he missed seeing me, or chose to ignore me, I couldn’t tell. He continued grazing on the fresh green grass until I was safely out of the pasture.
I’ve had him step in front of me to get my attention. But, I never had him run to get ahead of me, nor be so deliberate about blocking my progress. When he began to act like a bull wanting to fight, I became concerned. Then I remembered, this was Mr. Boo. He’s herded reluctant calves for us. He protected Bob in the barn, And he’s always been our 2,000 pound buddy. Apparently, all he wanted was to be scratched.