My family made our annual pilgrimage to the Minnesota State Fair Thursday morning. It turns out Thursday was a good choice of days to attend the fair because 24 hours later (Friday - 9:15 AM), a 1600-pound bull named Saber got spooked and ran amok in the crowd before slamming into a fire hydrant and perishing. Fortunately, nobody (except the bull) was injured in the fracas. I have no question that if I was at the fair when the bull got out, I would have somehow been in that area and would have decided to wear my favorite RED Wisconsin Badger hat, shirt, pants and shoes on that day. I probably would have said "Hey - let's check out the farm animals FIRST this year instead of going on rides!"You see, I love the fair, but I'm not really a farm animal guy. I'm a food and drink guy. My wife and daughter love the animals, but they have always made me a little paranoid. Plus, I have never understood that Miracle of Birth booth. Hey, I have witnessed the Miracle of Birth three times already, and I don't need to see a cow birthing a calf a foot away from my frozen custard. But I digress.
I have often remarked to my family, while gazing upon the cooped-up Clydesdale's and other beasts, "what if one of these freaks out and takes off?" I usually get a perplexed look from my wife at this point, but who has the last laugh now? Sure enough, yesterday the 1600 pound bull freaked out and took off. I have no question that if I was at the fair yesterday, the bull would have flattened me and I would have finally heard from my family "Geez, he was right." This realization, however, would have given me no satisfaction if I was part of the pavement. How did this happen? Let's check out some quotes.
"We don't know if it was the three-hour trailer ride or the environment here, but something made that bull very nervous," he said.
Jim Wulf, owner of 15-month-old Saber and Wulf Limousin Farms in Morris, said it was a "pretty helpless feeling" when the large, black animal took off.
Yes, that would be bad. Can you imagine your 1600-lb. bull taking off into a crowd? What can you say other than "Oh...........crap."
"All we heard was screaming, and then we saw the bull starting to run after people, and then there was an old couple that got away just in time ... and then it started going after a stroller, but for some reason it just stopped," witness Ashley Miller said.
Right there is where I imagine myself wearing red Wisconsin Badger's gear from head to toe and really enraging the bull. And then....
The bull's 9:15 a.m. run took it down Judson Avenue, past the Lee & Rose Warner Coliseum and into a hydrant near the all-you-can-drink milk booth. That's when Saber hit the hydrant.
"It just turned on the fire hydrant, put its head down and hit it at a real good pace," said witness Chris Fry. "And when it did that, it just dropped."
"It just turned on the fire hydrant, put its head down and hit it at a real good pace," said witness Chris Fry. "And when it did that, it just dropped."
The bull apparently put its forehead into a bolt jutting out of the hydrant, Wulf said.
The key element is this whole saga could be the all-you-can-drink milk booth. For years I have been upset about Rudy Boschwitz's milk stand closing. Maybe the bull felt the same way. Man, I loved that chocolate, banana and strawberry milk. They even had root beer flavored milk. Now, this "all-you-can-eat" stand has regular, boring white milk. Sure, it's all you can drink, but how many glasses of milk can you really have? One. Personally, I think the bull simply missed the root beer milk at the Rudy Boshwitz stand. And who can blame him?
Oddly enough, it turns out that the fire hydrant that the bull slammed into was indeed red. I always thought that "bulls hating red" was a myth or old wives tale. Maybe they should put this to the test on that "Myth Busters" TV show.
And then again, maybe they don't have to.
Jeff
5 comments:
unrelated. Your state - it never ends:
WAUKESHA, Wis. - It was embarrassing enough that Mark Stahnke woke up in a neighbor’s yard without his pants. Then he remembered they contained a cashier’s check for $41,093, meant for his son, and several hundred dollars in cash.
But he got it all back Friday, including the pants, thanks to a man and his dog.
Stahnke said he doesn’t know what happened between when he left the bar and when he woke up the next morning, and police were skeptical when he filed a report on Monday.
“We’re used to hearing weird stories, but with his intoxication we figured this one would be different, that the amount of money wouldn’t be exact,” Police Lt. William Graham said. “How do you get so intoxicated that you lose your pants?”
Stahnke said he had met his son at a bar and doesn’t remember much afterward.
“I woke up cold not knowing where the heck I was, and I didn’t realize it at first because I still had my shoes and socks on,” he said. “When I got up, I realized, my God, I don’t have any pants.”
Tim Curzan’s dog, Joe, found the pants at an intersection, according to a police report. He found the cashier’s check and tried twice, unsuccessfully, to deliver it and the cash to where he thought the owner lived.
On Wednesday, the pants were still at the intersection, so Curzan took them to the police, who contacted Stahnke to claim his belongings.
Well, if that hasn't happened to you once or twice...
How about this story from Abbotsford, WI? Almost did a post on it:
ABBOTSFORD, Wis. — Two Dorchester men driving one truck at the same time were cited for drunken driving in the Abbotsford area about 170 miles northwest of Madison.
Harvey J. Miller, 43, who has no legs, steered the 1985 Chevrolet truck while Edwin H. Marzinske, 55, operated the brake and gas pedals, according to a report from the Colby/Abbotsford police.
Miller, who was sitting in the driver's seat, admitted he'd had too much to drink but argued that he wasn't really operating the truck since he had no legs to push the pedals, the report said. He received a citation for a third drunken driving offense.
Marzinske was cited for a second drunken driving offense.
Both men also were cited for driving after their licenses had been revoked.
A third man in the truck, also drunk, walked himself home after the Aug. 18 traffic stop, police said.
I think red is the only color a bull can see.
That sounds right. Good thing bulls don't drive - those stop lights would be tough!
By the way, where is malawi?
Jeff
Jeff of "what Jeff thinks"-
It is located in southeastern Africa. It borders Zambia to the north-west, Tanzania to the north, and Mozambique surrounding it on the east, south, and west. You would love it. Glad we have this internet to connect us to those we'll likely never meet. Good to hear the opinions of those in the US.
Hoijdi
- Mal
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