IN APPRECIATION OF COWS

Perhaps, if I'd known that yesterday was National Cow Appreciation day, I would have blogged about it. The thing is I need someone to tell me these things.

So, 4 of my grands came by last night to inform me. Seems they were on their way home from Chick-fil-A where they enjoyed free meals for coming as cows.

It just so happens that I am especially fond of cows right now. I did not expect this when I started writing a book about a 1940's mental hospital. But then I had no idea that mental hospitals provided so much of their own food through full working farms. (with much hard work from their patients!)

To be honest, a cow has always been just that, to me. A cow.

But I have friends who are avid dairy farmers. And my father worked on a large dairy operation in the forties. Very helpful in terms of my 1942 story! This, dear reader, is the working definition of an expert. Someone who knows the itty bitty details of how cows were milked some sixty-odd years ago.

And also someone like my dairy farming friend who once said to me, "You know, cow manure smells good."

"Uh. Okay."

I am thrilled to ask questions of experts who don't simply know cows. They actually love them! And to be honest I am starting to become especially fond of bovines myself.

Why else would I have this photo as the background on my desktop?
The cows my daddy milked in the 1940's.

P.S. A little more research shows that various people appreciate cows on different days of the month of July. It appears that July 18 is actually the most commonly accepted day for Cow Appreciation. Ha! Wouldn't you know - it's my birthday! And not only mine. But my dad's as well.