In this modern society, it seems like we’re always liable to be tracked or watched. On a recent walk at Upolu, this cow kept a close eye on me as I walked by.
Peek-a-boo moo
Tag Archives: Cattle
How now brown cow?
This week’s Sunday Stills Monthly Color Challenge is ‘Leather (shades of brown).’ See more responses here.
This seemed an appropriate topic for some cattle photos, taken on my walks at Upolu and Pu’u Wa’a Wa’a. And, yes, not all of them are cows!
Also posted for Becky’s Squares theme of “Walking” (See more responses here).
Horse and cattle
For some reason, one of the pastures at Upolu has recently been occupied by this horse and a handful of cattle. I’m not sure why the horse is in there, but on this day, while the cattle were standing around looking bored, the horse was furiously rubbing itself against a fence post. Afterwards, it too stood around looking bored!
Flies on him
The expression ‘No flies on you’ means you’re a busy person and/or quick to pick up on things. It dates back to the 19th-century and was intended as a contrast to horses and cattle, such as the fellow in this photo, which tend to be fly magnets when at rest.
Picasso’s Cow?
I grew up on a dairy farm and have been around cows off and on for years so I’m used to them, used to what they do. Recently, I was walking past one of the local dairy’s fields. The nearest cows turned their heads to look. A couple jogged away from me. Other carried on grazing.
Up ahead, on a rise, away from the rest if the herd. I saw the cow in the photo. At least I thought that’s what I saw. But what was it doing? Was it one cow or two? Alive or dead? As I got closer I thought for sure I was looking at one cow sitting on another, no matter that I knew that was highly improbable.
It wasn’t until I got quite close that I was finally able to make out this one cow resting in a rather contorted position. I think my confusion was caused by all those lumps sticking up, by the swirl of white on the visible rear leg, and by the black hump of the back.
I’m pretty sure the cow was alive though I didn’t notice a single movement while I was watching.
Old Saddle Road
This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Road Trippin’.’ See more responses here. Since there aren’t any road trips, in the usual sense of the expression, here on the island, I thought I’d focus on a stretch of road that is one of my favorite drives here.
Old Saddle Road is an 11 mile stretch of the old highway that connected the west side of the island to the east side, through the saddle between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa. These days, people take the new road, which is wide and smooth and allows drivers to zip along at 80 mph even though the speed limit is 60 mph. I like this highway, too, but the best part of any cross-island trip is always the old highway, which is up and down, winding, and dotted with one lane narrows where culverts pass under the highway (they’re not bridges) to channel the copious amounts of rain away from the road.
This stretch of road is bordered by ranch land, with horses, cattle, and sheep to the fore. There’s also a good variety of wildlife that can be seen in this area. And the weather can be anything from stunning to biblically awful, sometimes within the hour. So here are a few scenes that give an idea of that short, but special drive.
Do not disturb
When I first saw these two cows it was from the rear, looking into the sun (bottom photo). I thought it would make a nice photo if I could sneak past without disturbing them and get a photo from the front.
So I ambled along, trying not to provoke their interest and made it to a point where I had the sun at my back and a decent view of them. The only problem was, to get a clear shot I had to scramble up a bank and arrive at a spot where my view wasn’t blocked by another cow.
I gave it a good go, but just as I set up to take a photo, the one cow stirred. Still, I quite like the photo for the expressions. I had it tagged as two cows, but looking at the one on the right I’m not sure that’s the case and I certainly wasn’t about to scramble over the fence to see if I was right.
It’s light, it’s bright, it’s black and white
This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Daylight in Black and White.’ See more responses here.
I was going to post a single image for this but then got caught up with the idea of black and white images of black and white things. This is the result.
Graham's Island 