Leading people up the garden path
By Judy Evans
@JudyEv (381760)
Rockingham, Australia
August 5, 2020 8:00am CST
I’m sure those of us who’ve had trouble with the site over the last month or so would have noticed how much better it’s operating now. A big thank you to Bugsy and his team – if he has one.
And following on from my last post about practical jokes and misleading people, my father used to tell my young school-friends that black-and-white cows gave black-and-white milk. Many had very little experience of farms and livestock.
Vince once convinced his office girl that train-drivers actually steered the trains round the bends … and he tried to tell me you could tow-start a ship with a tug. He was fond of 'leading me up the garden path'. Have you heard that expression used when someone tries to mislead you?
The photo is of a school friend on one of our bucket-fed calves. Her name was Bimbo and she later became one of our house-cows.
19 people like this
19 responses
@rebelann (117199)
• El Paso, Texas
6 Aug 20
My dads parents had one and grandma would shake that milk in a mason jar until she made it into buttermilk, I love that kind of buttermilk but I can't find anything as good these days @JudyEv she also made butter. I was small then but I remember her cooking the laundry in a large black cast iron tub or whatever it was. They didn't have a washing machine or indoor plumbing back then, it was the mid 1950s.
2 people like this
@moffittjc (128824)
• Gainesville, Florida
6 Aug 20
Your father had some funny sayings! When I was little, my dad told me that chocolate milk comes from chocolate cows, and I believed him!
2 people like this
@DaddyEvil (174208)
• United States
8 Aug 20
@moffittjc Hey, Jeff, did you know that the marshmallows you buy in stores were made from huge ones cut down to small size and rolled in powered sugar?
Photo courtesy of Fine Arts America.
Photo courtesy of Fine Arts America.2 people like this
@moffittjc (128824)
• Gainesville, Florida
8 Aug 20
@JudyEv Much easier to convince small children! Although, I will say you are right in that there are many adults out there who are completely gullible and naive when it comes to these sorts of things.
2 people like this
@DaddyEvil (174208)
• United States
8 Aug 20
Vince is so great!
Yes, I know that phrase as my dad was always keen to tease the tar out of people he'd just met, especially friends we kids brought home from school with us.
We used to ride one of our milk-cows around in the pasture when I was a kid. *shrug* We only had so many horses and ponies, so someone always got to ride on Old Red. She'd follow the horses while everyone was riding in the pasture but you couldn't trust her to follow them if you let her out onto the dirt road. 
She'd be more interested in trying the grass in the pasture across the road than in following the horses down the road. 
1 person likes this
@DaddyEvil (174208)
• United States
9 Aug 20
@JudyEv Dad usually purchased, or raised, Holsteins. We were a large family so he wanted to get the most milk he could per cow.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (381760)
• Rockingham, Australia
9 Aug 20
@DaddyEvil We had Holsteins (we called them Friesians) when Mum and Dad had a dairy but later the various milk-cows were varying breeds. Eventually we got a Jersey and loved the delicate little Jersey calf after the big boofy Hereford/Holstein/whatever crosses.
1 person likes this
@kobesbuddy (78833)
• East Tawas, Michigan
5 Aug 20
My brother was told to sits quietly on a tree stump offering vanilla wafers, to catch a skunk. Bill actually tried this! LOL Uncle Wayne was a notorious prankster! Who in their right mind wants to catch a skunk anyway? Rabbits lay colored eggs for Easter, ever hear this one? LOL I love your photo!
Rabbits lay colored eggs for Easter, ever hear this one? LOL I love your photo!1 person likes this
@JudyEv (381760)
• Rockingham, Australia
6 Aug 20
@kobesbuddy At least it got Bill out of everyone's hair for a while. lol
1 person likes this
@kobesbuddy (78833)
• East Tawas, Michigan
5 Aug 20
@JudyEv Bill sat all afternoon on a stump, with a vanilla wafer in his hand!
1 person likes this
@DocAndersen (54399)
• United States
5 Aug 20
i've heard similar - lead me down the garden path but yes it is a fun expression - we also call it egging someone on
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (381760)
• Rockingham, Australia
6 Aug 20
@DocAndersen Haven't heard of the primrose path. That's a new one to me.
1 person likes this
@DocAndersen (54399)
• United States
6 Aug 20
@JudyEv yeah pulling someone's leg, pulling the wool over their eyes, taking them down the primrose path
my grandfather used a lot of different ones he was very colorful
1 person likes this
@BelleStarr (61463)
• United States
5 Aug 20
Yes it is a phrase I am familiar with!! Lol
1 person likes this
@1creekgirl (44560)
• United States
5 Aug 20
That's a great post! But what do you mean about the cow becoming a house-cow. Surely not what it sounds like!
1 person likes this
Nice picture.
@LindaOHio (222288)
• United States
6 Aug 20
Great picture. Yes, I've been led up the garden path once or twice in my life! :-)
1 person likes this
@jvicentevalera (13671)
• Santiago, Chile
5 Aug 20
I haven't heard that expression! I would to know what it means?
1 person likes this
@jvicentevalera (13671)
• Santiago, Chile
6 Aug 20
@JudyEv oh that's understandable now! Thanks for clearing that up for me Judy!
1 person likes this
@mynameiskate (2658)
•
5 Aug 20
@JudyEv a pet who put milk with cream on top on the table
1 person likes this
@Butterfingers (66603)
• India
11 Aug 20
Haha I once heard from a mylot member that people in their town belive brown cows give chocolaty milk
1 person likes this
@snowy22315 (208746)
• United States
5 Aug 20
Black and white milk that is a good one.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (381760)
• Rockingham, Australia
6 Aug 20
Some of my friends who came to stay for a weekend had no idea about farms.
@FourWalls (86575)
• United States
5 Aug 20
We call that "pulling my leg" in the south.
"Bimbo" means different things in different contexts. To you, it's a cow....and to me, it's a Jim Reeves song.
BIMBO ~ Jim Reeves (1953) Abbott #148 - (1957) RCA - Victor Lp # - "Bimbo" was originally recorded in 1953 on Abbott #148, this recording, however, was taken...
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (381760)
• Rockingham, Australia
6 Aug 20
It's a bit like believing you can buy striped paint. lol
@wolfgirl569 (135583)
• Marion, Ohio
5 Aug 20
I have heard that one. I always thought black and white cows gave chocolate milk
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (381760)
• Rockingham, Australia
6 Aug 20
I was gullible as a child. We always had lots of pet lambs and bucket-fed calves to enjoy.
