Bobbi and Me
Bert and I owned a small grazing property .
One day Bert found a calf which had been
abandoned by its mother, it was only about 2 or 3 days
old, he brought it back and gave it to our daughter Elizabeth, who was living with us at the time, to raise.
Elizabeth named the calf Bobbi and taught it to suck and drink out of a bucket.
Bobbi became a pet, that is to everyone except me, it
wasn't that I didnt like her but as she grew older she formed the habit of lowering her head and butting
everyone who came near her, you had to be agile to get
out of her way, and I wasnt agile.
I have rheumatoid arthritis and not very steady or quick
on my feet, so if Bobbi spotted me and attacked somebody had to come to my rescue. I think somehow Bobbi sensed
my fear of her.
While Bobbi was small and needed looking after, she was kept in the house yard, but when she was big enough she
was put out into the big paddock with the other cattle
but she always hung around close to the house yard.
Our car was always left outside the house yard, so if wanted to go to it I would have to get someone to keep Bobbi away from me.
One day when we had all been out in the car, everybody
got out and went inside leaving me to follow along behind slowly.
I was about 2m. from the gate when Bobbi shot out from
the blue with her head down heading straight for me, she just grazes along my thigh and put me off balance, I managed to totter to the gate and hang on yelling for someone to come and help. Chris, Elizabeths husband,
came out and grabbed Bobbi and held her until I got
inside the gate.
On several occasions when I was getting into the car,
Bobbi would turn up out of the blue and almost get
into the car with me in her efforts to get at me. I
would have to hold her head away and call someone for
help.
One day, when I was on my own and had to go in to town,
I was walking up to the gate , when I noticed Bobbi standing near the fence about 6m. from the gate watching me. I knew that once outside the gate Bobbi would reach
me before I could reach the car so I turned round and
went back to the house.
I was quite scared of that heifer, she was about three quarters grown so quite big. If she hit me my bones,
being quite fragile because of the arthritis, could
easily break or if she knocked me to the ground, I
would be unable to get up and be at her mercy for hours before someone came home.
I was sitting in the kitchen watching Bobbi, who hadn't moved, when I heard some words from Scripture: "Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them,(Bobbi) for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you or forsake you." (Deut.31:6)
Picking up my bag and trusting God to protect me, I walked up to the gate opened it and went through, closed it, walked to the drivers side of the car and got in,
watching Bobbi out of the corner of my eye all the time.
The minute I sat down, Bobbi, who had been watching me
all this time, sprang, as if from a catapult and headed straight for me, but by this time I was safely in the car with the door closed so she shook her head at me as if to say "next time. And walked off. Praise God.
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