Is it the cow's in the meadow and the sheep's in the corn or the other way round? Anyway, life is never dull in the country. Once I had to chase escaped dairy cows out of the neighbour's corn field. They were feasting on the sumptuous young corn tips. My dog Buster and I ran to the middle of the field. Buster is not a herder but he thought it all great fun. Meanwhile I ran about with a bum leg and a stick and he just ran about barking and wagging his tail and occasionally looking at me for approval. The cows knew exactly how to run home. They weren't lost at all. They knew where to cop a good meal that's all! Eventually, having enough or our silliness, they hi-tailed it off through the field of young corn down the hill and to the barn where they were awaited for milking.
Another time a peacock appeared in all its glory on our lawn. Where it had come from and where it disappeared to I never learned. But last evening, as I reclined after a day's garden labour in the hot sun, with an ice pack at my back, I could have sworn I heard a lamb bleat. Then I convinced myself it had been some trick of mind. I drifted off and sure as I was breathing, I am sure I heard another bleat. I looked out, saw nothing, looked again and then went to sit down. Buster, lying at my feet looked at me in quiet expectation but eventually curled back down on the cool floor. Then more bleating. But I had seen a grackle fly by the window - Ah I thought, these troublesome birds may be like the raven who can sound like other creatures. That had to be it. Then louder bleating and Buster perked up and dashed out the screen door with his fur bristling. I walked out after him and walked about and looked over the hill. Nothing. Buster ran about sniffing in vain. I walked around the outside of the house and as I rounded the front porch two brown goats ran toward me! They were tame and friendly and very lovable although Buster got his testosterone in a knot (Do dogs have testosterone?). Eventually he calmed down and the beasts sniffed one another. They fortunately had green collars on and so I was able to lead them to the potting shed whilst I figured out what to do. I called our neighbour who had lived here all her life. She called about for me and in short order discovered these creatures had escaped from a farm further down in the valley and around the bend only 2 kilometres away. The owner arrived shortly and gratefully took the intruders home.
Life is never dull in the country.

A funeral of a young man who has taken his life
With no warning signs of unabated internal strife
Has brought out a town to sadly wonder why
A young person in full flight would want to rudely die.

And wonder confused is all that the people can do;
A hundred reasons to ponder or only a few.
What dread secrets were hidden so deeply within?
What lost cherished dreams or desires that were dim?

Was he too fragile to awaken his candid self ?
Had he been robbed of some deep inner wealth?
Was he denied the vital face of fulsome youth ?
Tragic the slaughter of prospect, the buried truth.