What a non-event! So total it was not, but partially. And everybody kept his kids at home, it seems. I went with a couple of colleagues to the roof of the building, and observed the entire eclipse through the funky carton glasses; reminded me of those pictures of the 60’s in the States, when everyone was into 3D movies.
But we did observe it, even took pictures. It did not get dark, although the temperature did drop quite a bit for 5 minutes. I remember my Mom telling me that she was watching an eclipse in Bunnik (my hometown), near a field with cows. And as the eclipse reached its maximum, all the cows started lining up and got ready to go to the stables. Apparently the diminishing light was a signal for them to get back to the bar.
Which reminds me of another story. When I was 8 or 9, I went with my best friend, Titia, to visit an uncle of mine, Oom Titus, who has a big farm up North in Friesland (which is where I originally come from, but Dutch readers would have figured that one out already from the name). Anyway, he asked us – when milking time was nearing – to get the cows. This is a bit of a joke. You don’t need to get the cows to the barn during milking time; all you need to do is open the fence, and the cows will come by themselves. But we did not know that, so we kept the fences closed, and ran all over the field to get the cows to the barn. Finally my uncle told us to open the fence. But there were 5 little cows, that kept jumping and running, playful and all that, that gave us a lot of trouble. No matter how we chased and cornered them, they did not want to go through that fence. Finally, after a good hour’s chase (and we were only 9, so very short little legs), we got the five into the barn.
“Gee, why did you bring those in,” my uncle asked?
Well, why not, we figured, cows need to be milked, don’t they? It was then that I learned that cows only give milk after their first calf, and these hadn’t calved yet.
But we did observe it, even took pictures. It did not get dark, although the temperature did drop quite a bit for 5 minutes. I remember my Mom telling me that she was watching an eclipse in Bunnik (my hometown), near a field with cows. And as the eclipse reached its maximum, all the cows started lining up and got ready to go to the stables. Apparently the diminishing light was a signal for them to get back to the bar.
Which reminds me of another story. When I was 8 or 9, I went with my best friend, Titia, to visit an uncle of mine, Oom Titus, who has a big farm up North in Friesland (which is where I originally come from, but Dutch readers would have figured that one out already from the name). Anyway, he asked us – when milking time was nearing – to get the cows. This is a bit of a joke. You don’t need to get the cows to the barn during milking time; all you need to do is open the fence, and the cows will come by themselves. But we did not know that, so we kept the fences closed, and ran all over the field to get the cows to the barn. Finally my uncle told us to open the fence. But there were 5 little cows, that kept jumping and running, playful and all that, that gave us a lot of trouble. No matter how we chased and cornered them, they did not want to go through that fence. Finally, after a good hour’s chase (and we were only 9, so very short little legs), we got the five into the barn.
“Gee, why did you bring those in,” my uncle asked?
Well, why not, we figured, cows need to be milked, don’t they? It was then that I learned that cows only give milk after their first calf, and these hadn’t calved yet.
1 comment:
Roling, Roling, Roling, Rawhide!!
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