Back to the Prairie: Winter Prairie Chore

   Winter on the prairie is quite hard for energetic prairie girls; so many hours in the big farmhouse get to you rather quickly. Cows, it seems, feel the same way. On the cold winter prairie, cows leave the safety of their warm barn to brave the whirling winds and crunchy snow. When they do, prairie farmers must brave the cold too.
   Filled with hot coffee (to get all warmed up on the inside), Grandpa and Grandma and me bundle in layers with caps and scarves..gloves and two layers of socks. As we head out of the farmhouse toward the old blue truck we grab the big metal hooks hanging hanging just outside the door...tools of the winter prairie chore.
   Grandma and I sit in the back while Grandpa drives us to the old barn. We work to load the bed full of big round hay bales for feeding the cattle in the bare field. A little tabby barn kitty catches my eye, but there is work to do today..she and I will have to play later.
   Into the big empty fields the truck rumbles; cattle see us coming and start making their way toward us. I love the slow lumber and the mist of their breath as they move; low bawls drift across the wide open prairie carried on the wind.
   Grandma uses the hay hooks to toss big hay bales over the side of the truck as we slowly crunch over the blanket of snow; grateful cattle snort and moan as the crunch. Standing at the back of the cab I tilt my head toward the sky...no warm sun greats me there..only the howling of a cold prairie wind.
   The way back to the house Grandma and I crowd into the cab trying to warm a bit. There in the middle..in the old blue truck..I smile just a bit. We may be cold and a bit tired from the work, but a little escape from the confines of the farmhouse was found as we bundled up in our layers and accomplished a winter prairie chore.