Ever have one of those days where you have to jump in your minivan to stay safe while a cow runs through your yard? Well, it happened to us once again.

While we certainly don't live in a metropolitan area, I don't consider our river valley town of approximately 14,000 out in the sticks either. But our house (located in town) is about one mile west of a stockyard. Tuesdays are the day that all of the ranchers and farmers bring their cattle to the stockyard. This morning we were heading out to Wal-Mart (Cory spilled pop on the keyboard last night and fried it). I was buckling Cole into his carseat and Accalia was running around the cedar tree in our front yard. Suddenly two trucks pull up behind the van and two men jump out shouting "There's a cow!" I look in Accalia's direction and there's a HUGE brown cow running between our house and the neighbor's house directly toward her - about 500 feet or so away. Accalia's just standing there staring at this cow. I yell "Accalia!" and run and grab her, while one of the men basically shoves us in the van. The cow runs through our front yard, into the street and heads in a southwesterly direction. I climb out of the van once it's safe and buckle Accalia in - "I was scared, Mommy" - and one of the men stops and apologizes before he heads off to round up the runaway cow.

Something similar happened a few years ago when we lived in Yankton the first time. This was before Accalia was born, I think. We were walking Lucy when a man driving by says "Better get out of the way. There's a bull coming." Lo and behold, a HUGE bull (you just don't realize how large cattle are when you're driving by the fields they're grazing in!) was running by as we neared our house. We hurried Lucy inside so she and the bull wouldn't aggravate each other and then watched a group of men try to chase down the bull.

Could our life be any more exciting? LOL!