Pa was a prankster. I’m certain he was the root cause of at least half of the havoc that occurred around the house. He was also the reason we found humor in even every day happenings.
One of the kids’ duties on the farm was to run up through the pasture twice a day and chase the cows down to the barn to be milked.
The pasture was a long L shape with a narrow lane connecting it to the barn. The kids had to run through the muddy lane, down into the first valley, up a large steep hill, across the grassy plateau at the top, into the woods, up two more hills connected by creek filled valleys. Finally up the last hill the cattle were generally found grazing in one of the furthest, grass covered slopes of the pasture. They had to be herded together and chased, at a walk, down to the barn. There were always the ornery ones that just didn’t want to go to the barn and would make a dash out of the herd. With several kids, a couple would keep the main herd going, while the others would chase down the cantankerous old biddy that was escaping.
Eventually, the milk cows would make it into the lane sometimes the bull and heifers (young non-milking cows) had to be separated out at this point, as they stayed in the pasture.
As I mentioned, Pa was a prankster. Someone that day had mentioned something about bears, likely asking if there were any in our woods. This was an opening that Pa just wouldn’t be able to resist. He and Ma were watching the kids head up after the cows. He waited until they had gone up the first big hill and were just entering the woods and he yelled as loud as he could, “Watch Out for the Bear!!!”
He got a huge belly laugh as he watched all of the kids scatter like squirrels and race back down the hill to the barn in terror. Wonderful and very practical Ma, let him have his fun, waited until the worst of his laughter was done and said, “Looks like You’re going after the cows tonight.”
Pa’s eyes were normally just narrow slits in his face. For a moment they opened wide in surprise as he looked at Ma, before they returned to their usual happy slits. He picked up a walking stick and headed out after the cows, still chuckling over his successful prank.
