The smiling calf

Driving home from work yesterday, I saw a calf run free. It was a beautiful day, and the calf had managed to get out of the fenced field. She was running down the side of the road – skipping, if a calf can do that – enjoying her sudden freedom. She started to cross the road in front of me. I stopped, she stopped, and the few cars behind me stopped. We waited for her to make up her mind. She turned and ran on down the side of the road.

I never knew a 500 lb animal could be frisky. I never knew a dour-faced bovine could look happy. I do hope she got home all right, where she might get a good meal and a refreshing drink. Where she could tell the others of her brief adventure.

On the way to work...

So the Twins bats kind of came alive against Texas in the first two games of that series. Morneau hit a grand slam (and they still lost) , Cuddyer came back from the DL to hit a three-run blast. Delmon Young got a couple of RBI. Then they fell asleep again in the third game. Gonna be a long year.

These are the kinds of things I think about on the way to work. Also...

Rice County, where I live and work, has some interesting contrasts: suburban sprawl, quaint small towns, and the predominant still-rural feel. Some mornings, on my short drive through the countryside to work, I will see very few other cars. That's nice.

Other things I've seen on the drive to work:

Bald eagles
Blue herons
Red-tailed hawks

White egrets

Wild turkeys

Ring-necked pheasant

Ducks

Geese

Barn swallows

Gulls
Beavers
Muskrats
Raccoons (mostly carrion)

Skunks

Cats 'n' dogs
Deer
Squirrels (black, brown, red)
Horses (domesticated, including some massive Belgian draft horses)
Burros *
Sheep
Pigs**

Turtles (sunning themselves on a big rock in an oxbow off the Cannon River)

Green algae
A rusted-out Jeepster
Several barns and sheds that are slowly succumbing to gravity

All in all, it's a pleasant drive, even in winter.

* I can understand why people around here raise horses, even when those horses aren't intended for work or racing. But burros?

** On the first truly beautiful spring day this year, I was watching a gentleman in a Mazda Miata, top down, zipping along the country road, enjoying the sun and scenery. About half way home, we drove along Pork Chop Ridge, so named because it is occupied by a large hog-raising operation. The smell was overpowering. Ah, springtime!