A cowboy and cowgirl herd a runaway cow down a fenced-off alley into a waiting trailer. This photo was a bit late in the tale, but I wanted to start with one of the better images, so you'll have to click on the arrow at top right to get the whole story.
When I arrived at the alley between Minnesota and First Avenue South, just off South 30th Street, a woman on a four-wheeler and two lasso-slingers in a pickup were trying to catch the cow. I was told the cow had escaped from the Public Auction Yards, about half a mile east of there.
Walking down the alley, the cow elects to look at the photographer, when it could have looked over its left shoulder at the tallest building in Montana.
After making several unsuccessful attempts to squeeze between the vehicles and the fence, the cow finally runs into the waiting trailer, just ahead of the cowgirl.
Because the cow was now in the horse trailer, these two cowgirls have to ride the horses back to the auction yards. On Minnesota Avenue, they high-five each other over a job well done.
And some people think living in downtown Billings is uneventful.
My daughter called me about 3 in the afternoon Sunday to let me know that a cow was running loose on South 30th Street a block west of the Montana Rescue Mission. Since I live nearby, I raced down with my camera.
I took photos of several attempts to lasso the cow in a fenced-off alley that dead-ends at Montana Rail Link property, followed by the arrival of several police officers and then by some reinforcements equipped with horses and a horse trailer, who managed to get the recalcitrant cow into the trailer pretty quickly.
Everyone was too busy to give me much information, and frankly I was too busy to worry about the details. The photos tell the story, I think, though I do still wonder about the dead raccoon.
