Unexpected guests at my hermitage (Caro blog)

  • By Mike Caro | Exit
Poker1.com default content graphicEntry #20 (2011-09-15)

I moved to the Ozarks to be antisocial, but visitors come anyway

So, I’m sitting in my office, surrounded by computers, in a forest, on a lake. It’s the way I’ve chosen to live after fleeing the big city. That means I expected the long hours of solitude, doing poker research, and being a hermit.

But at 3:49 this afternoon, something happens that’s not expected. There’s a knock at my front door. Actually, it’s more like a thump. My dog woofs once, as he apparently feels obligated to do, and runs to me for reassurance.

I go to the door. Visitors. WTF?

Here’s a photo…

Some of my friends from Los Angeles won’t recognize the animal above. In the Ozarks, it’s known as a cow.

Earlier this year, several buffalo escaped from a boys’ ranch a few miles away and decided to visit my 41-acre lakeside hermitage. That many acres may seem enormous to us city folk, but out here, where several-hundred acre farms are common, people just yawn when you say 40 acres.

Anyway, the buffalo wandered some of my six miles of lonely, barely maintained paths. I never saw them. I was later informed of the roundup. This I saw — today!

Nine years ago, I was secure in southern California, surrounded by stores and restaurants and poker and every possible modern convenience. In case you’re wondering, below is what my life has become. — MC

Published by

Mike Caro

Visit Mike on   → Twitter   ♠ OR ♠    → FaceBook

Known as the “Mad Genius of Poker,” Mike Caro is generally regarded as today's foremost authority on poker strategy, psychology, and statistics. He is the founder of Mike Caro University of Poker, Gaming, and Life Strategy (MCU). See full bio → HERE.

 

19 thoughts on “Unexpected guests at my hermitage (Caro blog)”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Let's make sure it's really you and not a bot. Please type digits (without spaces) that best match what you see. (Example: 71353)

  1. Heh. Happened to my family and I a couple of times when we lived in Billings, just outside of Republic. Where's a salt lick when you need one?

  2. Mike is such a great neighbor!  Putting up with his hillbilly neighbors and thier bull    
    or  cows on his door step.  Thanks Mike!   I guess I owe you a steak dinner.
    Darren

    1. Hi, Darren —

      Good to see you at Poker1.com. And thanks for saying I'm a great neighbor. But in that category, even if I made the final table, you would win.

      As far as a steak dinner, thanks, but I already turned it down at the front door. Let's just go to a restaurant.

      Straight Flushes,

      Mike Caro

  3. Mike, i hada self help disc of yours that i bought and i lost it and i really enjoyed playing it and would glady puchase another one i have a couple from Wilson and a couple from some other folks but i don’t like their tight ass style of play and i want a young friend of mine to learn to gamble instead of waiting on two big cards thanks wood wood

  4. Hahaha… that is hilarious. COWS! Moooo! Perhaps the only time I see that many cows (more than 1 or 2) is when we visit my uncle’s ranch. His is not that big. He’s got only over a hundred heads. So what happens when the cows get in your property, does it become yours? Is there some kind of law that makes it so?

  5. Those cows in your yard reminded me of a story long ago that happened to my family when I was around 10 years old. My parents has a small farm in Kentucky although its not much of a farm now its just a plot of land. But its twenty acres we raised tobacco there had cows and horses. I wasnt much into the whole farming thing. Growing up my sister had horses and I had dirt bikes and the only thing I had to do with the tobacco was sneaking in there and chewing it or smoking it when it was hanging in the barn. But back to the subject my Dad was cutting grass in the front yard I was riding my motorcyle. When I just happened to ride out front of the house where my Dad was. When all of a sudden 10 of our horses running like they were in the Kentucky Derby went running right past us up US 25. My Dad was in shock I remember his words “Oh lord somebodys gonna get killed” Well one of our neighbors charlie going on a hunch they were our horses, seen them at the gas station and chased them in his truck back to our house. Which in my eyes was a small miracle itself. He proceeded chasing them beside our house back to the field when all of sudden the back of his truck disappears. All of a sudden I realize his truck has fallen in our septic tank I couldnt help to find it funny. Although my Dad didnt find it very funny, but it came to be a funny story between me and some of the locals. My dad got charlies truck out with his backhoe and within days got rid of every horse and cow we had, he couldnt stand the thought of chasing cows and horses anymore.

  6. I bet they wanted to play in the local Omaha Hi-Lo game but were looking to get steaked first.

  7. SHOULD OF HAD A BARBQUE THAT WOULD OF BEEN FUN OR SEEN IT THEY KNEW HOW TO PLAY CARDS. COULD OF INVITED DIANE OVER I AM SURE SHE HAS DEALT WITH THEM BEFORE.

  8. Well, there’s profit in the visit, too, without bluffing or having to hold premium cards, and you don’t even have to act a bit crazy to get it.

    They probably left quite a bit of free fertilizer on your paths!

    Oh … but that’s also maybe what you thought you were escaping by moving from LA?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Let's make sure it's really you and not a bot. Please type digits (without spaces) that best match what you see. (Example: 71353)