Out West they have these odd things on the roads - cattle guards. The cows apparently find them to be very scary, so they won't cross. Even though there's really nothing there to keep them from going across they won't do it. So the fences go to the road, then there's a cattle guard, then more fence on the other side. And it works. Mom says cows are dumb. I'm inclined to believe her. She says that sheep are dumber. I have a hard time imagining. But she grew up on a farm Out West, so I guess she should know.
Anyway. When you drive over a cattle guard, you're supposed to pick up your feet, lest you become an Old Maid. Very silly, but it's what we did when I was little. Then we moved Far Away to a Land With No Cattle Guards. Kate and I began lifting our feet up when we crossed railroads, because the sound is very similar and the Land Without Cattle Guards happened to be a Land Flowing With Rails and Ties. This game eventually mutated, as all good games do over time. Now, when one travels over a railroad, one must pick up the feet lest they be removed. But should they happen to be removed one can always just leave them down the next time one crosses because then they will be reattached. Did I mention that we do silly fairly well in my family?
The tragedy is that when we moved Far Away the younger kids never got to familiar with a cattle guard, so when we went to Wyoming this summer (there's more family up there) and we went up Grover Canyon, upon seeing a cattle guard we stopped to view it up close and personal. And this is the view we had:
These folks are my youngest siblings, checking things out.
You can check out another of my brothers in this post.
You can have a look at some more photo hunt photos here.
13 comments:
That is interesting! Never heard of them, growing up in PA. Do their feet get stuck in them? It looks deep.
I had to call home to find out, but Mom thinks that they won't get stuck, but it doesn't really matter because the Cows. Won't. Cross. Even the ones that are just painted on the road.
I know it's just a cattle guard, and I've done it myself, but I still get toe tingles from your pictures.
I promise it wasn't deep or anything. It's just the way the picture turned out. I promise, it wasn't at all scary to stand on. It's just that the picture turned out way cool. I'd be a better photographer if I could tell you why that happened. =D
My view is the same as yours...taken at a low point.
great post nice photo's!
Thanks for visiting mine :-)
We call them cattle grids here. I used to do the same! Happy weekend
wow! i never knew this, thanks for sharing =)
We have a few cattle guards around here too. And I've seen a few fake ones. Evidently the cows, sheep, etc. are afraid to they will step between the rails and possibly break a leg so they avoid them. And I guess the fake ones work because they lack the same kind of depth perception that we have.
Great views. The perspective was good.
Baker
(Thanks for dropping by earlier and for the comments)
Love the angle you gave the first shot, it makes it more intriguing. Thanks for stopping by my blog. (P.S. Are you LDS? Me too.)
I just had to laugh at your comment on the cattle guards. That's EXACTLY what I did growing up in Ut. My kids would have no idea since we dont' live in the country type setting. But they find it amusing some of the things I used to do as a child.
Karie
See!! I'm not crazy.
PERFECT!!! Love that top shot! Thanks for sharing!
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