Ted and I went for a walk this morning, and during the walk I said there were a lot of signs of cows being on the path (namely cow flop all over the place), but I’d never /seen/ one, and there were very few places which seemed convenient, even for a none too smart cow, to get from the fields to the path. It all led to a discussion of them being ninja cows and then ultimately decided they were perhaps Shao Lin cows.

We were out this afternoon, on our way home, when Ted said, suddenly, “There’s a cow on the path up there!”

I looked for one! But I didn’t see one! So I said, “Are you messing with me?” And Ted *swore* he wasn’t, that a brown cow had just gone around the corner. So we stepped along smartly and…no cow. “It must be one of those ninja cows.” “Shao Lin.” “A Shao Lin cow that defected to the ninjas to teach them Shao Lin kung fu secrets.” “So now there will be a feud between the Shao Lin cows and the ninja cows because their secrets have been revealed.” “Nah. Those Shao Lin cows are pretty good about sharing.”

Pause, and then at the same time: “Shao Lin cows sound like something Ursula would draw.” “Yeah. Little bald cows in robes with their horns and ears poking up.”

Through all of this, there was still no sign of the cow. We’d walked a kilometer or so. Ted was beginning to doubt his own cow sighting. “There are cow *prints* here,” I said, and he said, “I SWEAR I SAW A COW!”

On the last corner that leads into the home stretch on the canal path, we saw the cow waaaaaaaaaay up there in front of us. Ninja cow, indeed!

miles to Minas Tirith: 583