The Usual Suspect

We have had a catastrophic failure at our house and I’ve got some suspects lined up.  

Ok, perhaps it’s not completely catastrophic, but this one is trying to play innocent with her ‘who me?’ routine.  

or maybe she is pointing, with her head.  Yes, follow the trail and there is Missy over at the little tank acting like she didn't do anything wrong; typical.

Based on where the players were at the time of the incident Missy is my prime suspect.  Yes, I’m naming names; mostly because she is the only cow that has a name in this herd.  And because Missy and I have had issues every summer for the last three summers.  And, because when L got home everything was fine and Missy was grazing nearby and a short time later when he came out the ‘incident’ had happened and she had moved on after wreaking her version of havoc. 

Is that too many sentences that start with 'and'?  Well if it is it is because I'm upset, bummed, sad, mad because when I drove up after work this is what I saw...

My pool filter!!!  The pool filter of my red-necked pool that has kept the water clear and dust free all summer.  The filter that has kept the pool up and going even after school started.  Noooooo.  I ran in the house and asked if L knew what happened to the filter.  I knew he was aware of it because the filter was unplugged and we don't usually turn off the filter until dark:30.  

The chickens were excited for the water flow and the prospect that it might bring up some deep buried bugs.  

That was when he gave me the low down that everything was fine when he got home and she was grazing right there while the other cows tried to stay in the shade.  Perhaps she threw her head at it, busted it and then knowing she had me this summer she moved on.  

In past years her digs at me have revolved around her busting through the garden fence and eating down every vegetable plant I really like to a mere nub.  She is subtle about her ways.  She doesn’t just bust right through a fence.  She starts by getting just her big head over the fence and stretching the fence wire and pushing it down a little each day until all of the sudden she can step in and help herself to a big helping of okra, tomatoes, corn or squash.  Except she doesn’t like to just stop at the fruit itself she likes a full on salad with all of the leaves and stalk to help wash it down.  It helps her meet the daily fiber requirement recommended by the USDA.

   

The last couple of years though we’ve (and of course here I’m using the ‘royal we’ L & S do the real work after I run into the house crying about what’s she done) been reinforcing the fence with extra wire, barbed wire, a hot wire, a second strand of hot wire to zap her big grass fed legs.  

You can see her backside way in the distance in this picture.  

The boys swam before too much water was lost.  The pool won't be long for this summer without the filter, remember the aquarium on Nemo?  I'll be letting the rest of the water out before that happens because I don't want to clean out something that gross. 

L thinks we might be able to do a fiberglass repair on the broken part of the filter.  If not that then hopefully I can buy just the outer plastic filter tub.  It was a great pump and it worked so well this year and we really enjoyed the pool.