Careful what you name your milk cow.

[Farrier1987]

My sister Louise married a farmer. Clifford.

Cliff's dad Walter was quite a character. Farmer with a herd of cows and five sons. When Cliff had a girlfriend, Walter would name one of the cows after her. So in the herd there was a Shelly and a Vickie and a Louise. And Cliff and Louise ended up married.

A while into into the marriage, they had a son, Kelly. They also needed a milk cow, so they go out into the beef herd of a couple hundred and pick one about to ween its calf, decent natured and a good bag and she became the family milk cow. This one happened to be Louise.
So when son Kelly was about two, I had a girlfriend I was pretty serious about. Took her out to the farm on a Sunday to meet my sister and her family.

No work to be done on a Sunday afternoon and the five of us were sitting around the living room visiting.

"So Cliff," I said "you still milking Louise?"

"Nah. she dried up."

"Well how long did she milk?"

"Oh, close to a year, but she didn't really put out that much."

"You going to breed her again?"

"Oh, she's probably bred now, if not, she will be soon."

" You going to milk her again?"

"Don't know. Might, might not. Haven't decided. Depends what she puts out. Might have to look for something else."

Then we went on to other things, haying, building fences, other important stuff. Had a good visit and Sunday dinner and went on our way. The girlfriend had been in kind of a strange mood that afternoon. I put it down to meeting family.

We hadn't even got out of the laneway when she lit into me. "How could you and Cliff sit there and talk about your sister like that?"

"Like what?"

"Oh that's rich! You two sit there and talk about how much milk your sister is putting out and her drying up and breeding her. That's absolutely crude and insulting!"

Laughing was probably the wrong choice. Didn't help bring the tension down at all. I started to try to explain, but couldn't do it soberly, would burst out laughing again.

The girlfriend finally understood, but she was determined to be unhappy. Grumpled and growled for days. Years later (after we were married) if I told the story, she would get mad all over again.

All in all, I should have thought harder about marrying her, but if I had made other choices, I wouldn't have got divorced and found the wonderful one with whom I have gone through three and a half seven year itches. And we laugh at and with each other a lot.

I still enjoy the story. Hope a few on here do too. Goes along with chickens just fine I think.

[ross]

Thanks for the smile man

[baronrenfrew]

that's priceless.

[windwalkingwolf]

Inquiring minds want to know...is Cliff still milking Louise?