meeting the neighbors

After dinner, I was washing dishes and talking to Dylan, who came over to hang out for a while. Mike was outside caulking little areas around the siding, and I was elbow-deep in soapy water while Dylan and Henry debated the relative merits of different songs on the YouTube channel Epic Rap Battles, of which they are both aficionados. Anyway, in the midst of this pleasant domestic scene, Mike starts yelling from outside: "Holli? HOLLI! YOU'RE GOING TO WANT TO COME OUT HERE RIGHT NOW."

So I dried my hands and raced to the door to find ... Mike getting to know one of our new neighbors.

This is George. He busted through the electric fence because the power to it got knocked out in a storm, and our human neighbors hadn't had time to reset it. The human neighbors, as it turns out, are a very nice Romanian couple, Radu and Joanna, who have seven children. The oldest is a boy Henry's age, so I'm hopeful he can make a neighborhood friend. Anyway, Mike and Max went next door and explained the situation, then Radu came out with them, and they all herded poor George back through the fence. What a way to meet your neighbors! "Sir, your cow came to visit, and we don't have a fence, so I'm concerned it might wander into the road." Can you just imagine?!