Beware of Falling Cows

I think I'll be acquiring one of these cautionary signs very soon.

Who knew living in the country could be so dangerous.

A little background.

It is Spring and the local raccoon population is very active.

After losing $40 of koi food to the raccoons last fall, I now keep the

food tubs close to the house and in raccoon proof containers.

Friday night I heard the clever creatures on the patio and sure enough

they were attempting to open the vaults to the bird seed and fish food.

Lights on, loud noises, stomping feet, it's easy enough to scare them away.

This went on throughout the evening hours and then all was quiet.

Mr. TLRT went to bed and I settled in for some repair work on TLRT after the

recent disruption in Blogger service.  Loud noises from outside, lots of scuffling and crashing. Lights on, doors opened ..... nothing. Hmmmm. Lights off, settle in again.  This was repeated several times and finally all was quiet.

Within minutes, very loud noises, lots of crashing sounds ..... maybe they are in the garbage cans?  ALL the outside lights on surrounding the house and 1 acre garden. Now I am truly becoming annoyed. Nothing.

And then I got scared.  Crashing metal, the dogs next door are going crazy, loud

scary hissing noises.  All the doors are now closed and locked, all the lights are on, my mind is weaving all kinds of horror movie scenarios,  and then it became very quiet. Not a sound, not a breath of air, nothing.

I admit to my mind whirling into an irrational series of "what was that?" speculations. I sure wasn't going to go outside and investigate! The electric meter whirred happily at the unexpected surge of usage over the next few hours as I tried to calm my nerves. Mountain lion? Wild pigs? Aliens?

Morning brought a simple explanation.

 There is was a lean-to shed outside the back garden wall that houses the tractor, mower, garden cart etc. Silly cow either fell or jumped onto the roof of the shed from the hillside. Actually I think the raccoons probably pushed the cow over the edge! Cows, sheet metal and tractors aren't a good combination in all circumstances. How the thing extricated itself from the debris will always be a mystery.

A little bit of blood from a cut foot, poor cow. :(

A demolished shed, with 2 inch steel pipes bent like twigs.

A tractor with a crushed hood, broken seat, and a snapped in half hydraulic line.

Was this the culprit?  We probably will never know.

The little orange tractor will be fine after some repairs.

The racoons were back again last night, leaving their muddy footprints all over the food tubs. I do love living in the country, except for the falling cows.

I'm joining:

Mellow Yellow Monday