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Fun, Work And Trouble For These Guys
“Who’s on my back?” Fred, the cow, sei
All set for a ride on the four-wheeler; Benjl |n the driver’s
seat, Nate and Pee Wee behind him. {
BY LOU ANN GOOD
HAMBURG Eight-year-old
Nate Leatherman and his brother
Benji, 11, definitely want to be far
mers when they grow up. They
aren’t waiting until they grow up to
work on the farm. They already
share the bam work with their dad.
Nate said, “I feed the calves and
scrape the bam floor.”
When he gets bored, he jumps
on his cow named Fred and takes a
ride. Fred might be considered
improper to name a female, but
Nate staunchly defends it by say
ing, “I like the name. That’s why I
named her that.”
While Nate tends to his duties,
Benji feeds the cows.
Nate admits that he hates getting
in trouble, but he just can’t stay out
of it. He said, “I do things like put
ting manure in my brothers hat.”
He paused then added, “I guess I
take after my dad ’cause he gets
into trouble too.” What kind of
trouble does his dad, Daniel Leath
erman, get into? Nate answered,
“He goes over the speed limit.”
Nate considers school boring.
He likes to rise early in the morn
ing. Sometimes he gets up at 5:30
and goes out to the bam to get the
cows ready for milking.
Nate likes the cows so much,
he’d like to sleep with them, but
his family fears he will get too
lonely in the bam. So far, he hasn’t
had a chance to spend all night in
the bam.
I
“I like going through the woods
with my dog Pee Wee,” Nate said.
“We look for tracks, and squirrels
and field mice.”
Although Benji enjoys doing a
lot of farm chores, he prefers driv
ing tractor. He said the best thing
that ever happened to him was get
ting a 4-wheeler. “He’s a wicked
driver,” his younger brother
reported. Benji laughed and told
about getting stuck and covered
with mud balls and then how he
needs to use a come-along to pull
the 4-wheeler out of the mud.
Spring is coming and Benji is
glad. That means he can be the
shortstop for the Little League
baseball team.
to ask.
0
Nate and Pee Wee are heading for the woods where they
will look for animal tracks.
BY VERA MAE ZIMMERMAN
It is a well-known fact that some
cows are unusual characters. Sev
eral years ago we had a cow who
was often the first to see and
inspect everything, and she
seemed to be bolder and smarter
than any of our other cows. In other
words, she was plain down nosey.
And one day, she learned her
lesson.
One evening when we came
home from school, Mom told us to
quickly come out to the pasture if
we want to see something we had
never seen before. It was a porcu
pine. And who should be standing
right beside him, but that nosey
"fts/rrm
gets ready to feed the calves.
lenjl
Old Nosey And The Porcupine
Martinsburg
cow. While all the other cows kept
there distance.
You can guess what happened
next. Old Nosey butted Porky in
the side. For several seconds, she
looked rather startled. Then up
went her tail, and she careened
wildly around the pasture. She had
a noseful of painful porcupine
needles.
That evening we pulled 200 nee
dles out of her nose with a pliers! It
wasn’t a very pleasant experience
for her, and her nose was bleeding
by the time we got them all out. We
no longer have Old Nosey, but we
still have those needles in remem
brance of her.