A Delay

One of the only two fears I have is being late.  I would rather not show up for something than be late.  I've known people who are chronically late and it doesn't seem to mater to them in the least no matter how much it inconveniences others.

The worse consequence for me would arriving late and being turned away.  Most people think I'm crazy for this, but when I have an appointment in Portland I try to leave three hours ahead of time.  If you stop for gas or for coffee along the way that can easily chew up a half hour and then if you encounter traffic some where along the trip you can easily lose any time you have remaining.

I had an appointment in Portland on Thursday and yes I left three hours early.  We got a mile down the road and we encountered a stampede of cattle running in the same direction we were going.  I didn't want to push the cows further and as I started turning around to tell the neighbors their cows were running down the road I saw our neighbor driving the tractor with hay towards the scene.

It was obvious we had to try to head them off and keep them in one lane with out spooking them and about a half mile later were able to stop the herd.  A neighbor from the other direction was drove up with her son and now there were four of us and a tractor pushing the cows back in the right direction.  We were shouting, waving jackets and sticks.  The cows kept trying to leave the road  and we had to push them back and forward to their pasture.  It took a while but within 45 minutes we all had them back in their field with their very grateful owner.

I still made it to my appointment in Portland on time and had an adventure along the way.