You just never know...

You never know what you will see or hear in the country.

Let's start what you will see. As the saying goes, "Toto, I'm not in Kansas anymore". I have lived in Kansas but in this case, I thought to myself "Toto, I am not in Chicago anymore"! I am driving to work this morning, cruising along on the backroads, jamming to the radio, when I see movement up ahead. I slow down, figuring it is a dog (see a previous blog on my feelings on this concept). I am near an area where they leave their dog out and said dog has been known to be in the middle of the road, or alongside the road, which is still a scary place to be, if you ask me. But as I approach (this all happening in seconds), I see it seems bigger. I should have had my glasses on and then I might have reacted sooner. But, my mind says "what IS that?" knowing now it is NOT a dog. Then I say, out loud in my car, (excuse my language), "Holy Shit, those are cows!"

Yep, loose cows alongside and on the road. (I have never seen this!) This, I find, is a much bigger problem than the dog. What the heck do I do? I slow down, of course. I roll down my window -- why? I have no idea. To talk to the cow? To reason with the cow? It seemed like a good idea at the time. As the first cow looks me right in the eye, I decide that maybe the window should be closed, and I seal her up! I slowly drive as the cows are inching along the side of the road, and some from the middle of the road are deciding if they want to move or not. About six cows...loose! I am literally laughing out loud.

First, I take out my phone to take a photo...because this is clearly blog worthy...then I call Josh, and in my laughter, I simply say "I am on the road and there are cows loose. Cows! In the middle of the road." I don't know what to do ... I don't want to hit them, and I certainly don't want them to get mad and ram at my car. Josh says they have not been known to charge at a car, but you never know. It would be my luck that I would be the first. So I slowly ease past them, looking, laughing and not believing this. Josh asks me where they are, and says he will call someone. Um...okay... that's so wild to me. How do you know who they belong to? And, you just call, and say what... your cows are loose and they are freakin' out my city girlfriend? Maybe he found another way to express it. When I get to work, now late, I explain to my assistant why I am late. While she chuckles, and seems to show empathy towards my plight, this seems to be a reasonable explanation for being late around here.

 Other times, you never know what you will hear. Sometimes I feel like there is a language that I have not learned, and I am trying to keep up with the interchangeable terminology. Sometimes it is simple, sometimes it is complex. Sometimes it makes sense, and other times...!

Josh and I are talking last week about a piece of furniture in our house. I am talking about moving it, and he is explaining why moving it might not work. In the middle of the discussion, free flowing about said piece of furniture, he says "hall tree". I stop him and say "what did you say?" He says, 'The hall tree." Um... okay... where I come from, we call that a "coat rack"! But, to his logical credit, it is normally located in a hall, and I guess it looks like a tree... so hall tree. Got it. Who knew?!

Other examples I am learning about... (there are more every day but I can't recall them all now)
Should we meet for supper? (This actually means dinner...the evening hour...)
Should we meet for dinner? (This actually means lunch...the afternoon meal)
Are your folks coming to town? (This means parents)
We need to get fuel. (This means we are going to the gas station for gas)

And the crick means the creek... that one I will never get...