thing and it's light and lively, a theme I'm focusing on to a large degree at this joyous time of year. I really wasn't sure what I would write about but a story coming out of the City of Brotherly Love caught my attention. There's nothing like a good animal story to catch my eye.
It seems that Stormy the cow brought true meaning to a living nativity scene in the Old City section of Philadelphia on Thursday morning. Apparently she wasn't very happy with either her accommodations or her new found friends at a local church display and decided to do something about it. She just walked away. Twice.
Philadelphia police were called to Interstate 95 in the wee hours of the morning by a report of a cow roaming free on the roadway. Four state police squad cars boxed her in and managed to safely catch her and return her to the church. They were lucky that one of the officers had a cow farm in South Jersey and knew just what to do. He coaxed Stormy into a waiting cattle truck and she was returned to the church where she seemed to settle down. But she was just "playing possum" while she plotted her second attempt within hours.
Just before dawn, Stormy was on the run again. She headed out to a nearby parking garage where she was again located and coaxed with hay to return to the church. After a short rest, it was decided to return her to the farm. Was she playing Scrooge? No, she just wasn't happy with her surroundings and she was replaced with a smaller, more docile cow named Ginger. But couldn't Ginger have learned Stormy's tricks from her predecessor back at the farm? And why was it so easy for Stormy to get away? I guess we'll just have to wait and see when all is said and done.
The only thing I can add is at least it wasn't one of my animals, although I don't have cows. But sometimes when you move animals from their surroundings and the change is drastic, like from a farm to the middle of a city, they just naturally don't like the arrangement. Strange noises and large crowds can bother them and unless there is a Temple Grandin in the crowd it is hard to know what is going on in the cow's head. But it's a blessing that no one was hurt and no damage was done. Maybe the folks in the Old City area can just call the story "The Cow Who Tried to Steal Christmas."
Animals: When you think you've figured them out, they can always throw you a new wrinkle, even at Christmastime. Have a blessed day.