Cows

I often think that we are destined to be dairy farmers.

Here are a few examples of our obsession with cows:

As mentioned in a previous post, we unanimously named our large green papaya “the green cow,” though a papaya really bears no resemblance to a cow. We did “milk” it which is cutting shallow lines in it to draw out the white milking liquid which supposedly gives it the off flavor when picked green. While eating papaya and pineapple fruit salad once it ripened, I don’t think that we mourned it as we would have if we were eating a pet cow of ours.

This is a poor-looking cow we saw wondering around on the farm land above the Friars' property. She looked into the open truck window where I was sitting with Maria Victoria sleeping on my lap. She startled me and herself.

When we play the game “Telephone,” I can’t remember a time that the final pronouncement of the whispered message doesn’t include “cow.” Even an original message of “Don’t step on the spider,” will turn into “Won’t the cow like her?”

Fr. Francis Mary and Fr. John Anthony got a kick out of playing ¨Telephone¨with Daniel and the boys one day.

I didn’t bring any light reading with me to Nicaragua, so I borrowed James Herriot’s autobiographical stories of his life as a country vet (“All Things Bright and Beautiful”) from the Friars. The boys enjoy my recounting of the short and often comical stories of calvings, castrations, and mastitis treatments. Recently Daniel and I enjoyed a slightly embarrassed laugh while at dinner with the friars at a family’s house. The kids were given heart-shaped balloons that were not quite fully inflated. After looking at his for a while, Juan Pablo took the upside-down heart in his fists by the two un-inflated protrusions and said, “Look, Momma, they are like teats.” (As a side note unrelated to cows, Maria Victoria took her balloon and tried to breastfeed from it…the Friars are getting a very inside look at family life. :) )

We also love raw milk and all the yummy things from it like cream, butter, cheese, and such. Since you can't really get raw cows' milk in Texas, we'll just have to have a cow or two of our own.