Please don't count us tardy......

we had to put a heifer back where she belonged.

That was how our morning began. The kids go to school about a half hour from home, so our goal is to be out the door about 45 minutes before school starts. We were all in the van and on our way down the driveway in the early dawn when I spotted something white moving around beside the barn. Upon closer inspection, I discovered that Rhoda, one of the heifers, was on the wrong side of the fence and wandering around the yard. Thankfully, we live back from the road, so it is rarely a situation where we have critters getting near the road, but still you have to get them back in the right spot before they get too adventuresome.

I stopped the van, and the three kids piled out. Suzanna began a conversation with Rhoda, and the heifer quickly headed for Suzanna. Of course, she was dressed for school, so she quickly panicked and wanted me to head Rhoda off so no slobber would come in contact with her. Amazingly, we managed to head her back into the pasture without being "contaminated" at all.

Into the van and on our way.....only 10 minutes behind our normal schedule. But this was enough to cause some level of concern in the van. I assured them that they wouldn't be tardy, we did have some extra time. Spelling lists were studied and we got to enjoy another new episode of Adventures In Odyssey. (sure way to keep the van quiet).

We were within a few minutes of the school when Thomas let out an awful wail. "Oh no, I am going to get demerits", he cried. When asked what brought that on, he explained that his tie was missing and he was sure it fell off while trying to get Rhoda where she belonged. I urged him to look again, but he just moaned. I told him again, search the floor of the car, I would bet he just wasn't seeing it, but again he just moaned. Finally, after a third suggestion of looking for it, he searched. Too his amazement, there it was, on the floor under his backpack. Crisis averted, life could go on!!!

We arrived at the school at 8:14, that left them with one minute to spare. I took the time to let the office know why we were running behind. The secretary got a chuckle out of it and said not to worry.

As I headed to horse trainer Mike's I had to laugh at another episode of life in the zoo.