Tent memory

I just watched a video of a cow walking up to a tent, the camper had left his trainers outside. As the cow walked past the trainers got stuck on a front then rear hoof. Very funny, but who decided to film the cow. Could it be a faked video?

It bought back memories though. We once went camping once on a farm near Ludlow on the English /Welsh border. A dog there was pregnant and while we were out for the day cycling down into Ludlow to explore the castle, it got in our tent and stole the cheese and other stuff we were going to have for tea! The farmer was very apologetic. I think he gave us some sausages and eggs to replace the lost provisions. We made sure the tent was zipped up and tied shut the next time we went out!

By the way our tent was just a tiny two man canvas tent that served us well for many years. I do remember waking up on one occasion with a cow snuffling round the guide ropes of it, but the cow did no harm.

On another occasion we were camping above St Ives in Cornwall. It was a stormy night. My hubby put his foot against the tent zip and broke it. I’d got a sewing kit with us? Why? I don’t know, but I remember roughly sewing up the tent opening to keep it shut in the gale while having to hold the torch in my teeth (hubby having fallen asleep).

Cattle

Tuesdays #bandofsketchers prompt was Cattle. I looked for something to draw. I did a quick felt pen sketch of a cow. I don’t know the type it is. Maybe a Guernsey cow? Just drawn from the Internet. Took about fifteen minutes. I think it’s probably lying down to chew the cud. I was always told when I was a child that they lie down before rain. I’m not convinced that’s true!

Farming remembered

My hubby was brought up on farms and remembers the byres and barns of Yorkshire and Lancashire. His childhood was spent between going to school and working on farms in the summer holidays. When he was old enough he would even drive tractors. His father was a farm labourer and went from farm to farm following the seasonal work. Sometimes hubby fed cattle, other times he helped plough or harvest crops. They even raised day old chick’s in the attic of their house.

It sounds like a hard life, but an interesting one. He did this drawing of a tractor a few years ago. There are ducks, lambs and yes that’s meant to be a cow. X

9 years ago

We were visiting an agricultural show in Devon several years ago when I took the original photo. Then nine years ago I tried to copy it at the sketchfu website I used to draw at. The colours are a bit off because I took a photo of this from a screen and this is what I saved. The original drawing probably had more detail….