The winds

There I was on a shiny morning trying to fix the wiring on top of the old windmill. Kinda difficult job to do without the right tools and one leg hanging out the ladder. I wasn´t doing much of a success and I decided to call the molinero.

- "Yeah 99, you got to bring the man in. That´s a work for a specialist", said Negrita
- "Hi there", I greeted the cow
- "Come down while he brings the parts. There´s still some water in the trough. We can wait together. I don´t have much to do anyway"

She´s always right so I stepped down trying to catch the signal on my cellphone. The molinero, is always ready to solve emergencies.

- "That was a hell of a Northern wind last night", she continued, "no wonder the windmill broke. It must have been spinning like a maniac. Did you check the pump pole and the vanes?"
- "Yeah, they´re ok"
-"Did you hear the neighbors are planting soy? They got rid of some of my friends to use the land for crops"
- "I saw it. What a pity"
- "They evicted some of my fellas like many other ranchers are doing...", she said and I sensed some sadness in her moos.
- "It´s not good soil for crops. It´s grassland, cattle heaven.", I said trying to show her my sympathy for her loss.
- "Actually with all the craziness for biodiesel and the prices of corn skyrocketing who could blame them? I remember tales that my mother told me about the times in which there weren´t even fences in these lands"
- "No fences?"
- "Yeah. Cows were free to look for the clovers anywhere they wanted. It was after the conquistadores brought them from Spain and let them reproduce wildly. Would you believe that my great great grandmother had horns? Not exactly a beauty", and she blinked at me in her Angus pride.
- "I didn´t know"
- "Well, the breeding came afterwards and we adapted to the Pampas environment. What are we facing now? Stock markets define ruminant territories and soy is King. Green deserts with no job for gauchos and no place for diversity. Do you realize that exporting grain is also a hidden way of exporting water?"

She left me speechless. But I felt I had to comfort her so I mumbled, "there´s always going to be grass for you here..."
- "Thanks, I know. Sorry, but when the Northern wind enters so powerful and careless my brain spins like the windmill and I can´t avoid seeing the big picture. I smell it. I can´t close my nostrils...", she said and belched. "Hey, there´s the molinero coming!"
- "I´ll take care Negrita, let´s see what he can do to fix the problem... see you later, chau"
- "Chau 99, namasté"

I met the molinero at the gate and he was smiling. Happy to know that the cows needed his services. There are not many of those calls lately and he´s thinking in moving to another town. Far West, where there is still some cattle.