The night visitor

I was reading in the Gathering Room, (living room) when I heard a noise, a sort of click coming from the kitchen. I looked at my pets and they were all with me and asleep, two dogs and two cats, a more contented lot as you'll ever see. I heard another crack sound and got up and went into the kitchen looked around and didn't see anything. I waited and waited nothing, no sound. I went back and started reading again and in a minute a heard the sound again. I figured I had a mouse in the house. So, barefoot, I sneaked into the kitchen as quietly as possible and waited as my tired old eyes tried to focus in the very late night hour. LO and BEHOLD a Critter came out of the trash can, it was shaped like a mouse only a thousand times bigger and a whole lot uglier!!

I had a POSSUM in my kitchen !!!!

So like any self respecting woman I grabbed the broom, opened the door and tried to shoo the ugly thing outside. He/She wasn't having any of that broom business, the gray slimy critter slithered behind the stove and I was right behind it with my broom trying to shove it from behind the stove and out the door. I thought I had it on the run as it came out the other side of the stove, so I went over and tried to direct its travel to the door when it looked at me and SNARLED and showed its TEETH. I gave it a good swat with the broom, that was a mistake, it went back behind the stove with me and my broom hot on its ugly tail. I positioned myself so I could see behind the stove and .........NO CRITTER !

I thought to myself 'it must be under the stove', so I shoved my trusty broom under the stove and to my surprise there was no resistance. After giving this a moment's thought I concluded that somehow the ugly thing was up in the stove, so I slowly opened the bottom draw and peeked inside (gee I really ought to clean this drawer some day) no possum ? Where could he be?

I pulled the drawer all the way out of the stove very slowly, I didn't want a possum jumping on me (icky things they are). When the drawer was fully out of the stove I still couldn't see any thing so I got my flash light and shined it into the the bottom of the stove and there was the beast snarling and ready for a fight.

It then occurred to me I was doing all this alone. Where were my trusty dogs ? I looked behind me and there they were, laying on the floor the Shiatsu wagging his tail like he was enjoying the show and the Lab was so sound asleep I thought she was dead, I went over and pushed her with my foot, she came to, sort of, and looked at me like "what ? whats up?"Oh ya,these two are going to be a lot of help, right.

I went for a pistol I figured maneuvering a rifle would be awkward a shot gun would be loud and messy, so I had to decide which pistol the nice big 9mm Smith and Wesson or the .25 cal. Beretta, dainty purse, pistol. I decided on the cute little Beretta. I went back to the kitchen and bent down and pointed the pistol under the stove ..... the critter stared at me with his beady little eyes and snarled. Suddenly it dawned on me if I shot the thing while it is under the stove a bullet may damage the stove, we can't have that ! So I had to come up with plan 'B' or is it 'C' ?

I remembered I had bought a fish net with a long handle to catch the ducks (another story) and it was out in the barn. So out to the barn I go, in the middle of the night, with a little lamp to look for the fish net thingy. Of course it had to be right where I parked the tractor and I had to squeeze myself between the filthy greasy tractor and the junk along the wall so I could reach the brand new shiny fish net. I was thinking to myself "I sure hope I don't step on something again or get one of those spider things on me doing this or worse get grease on my skirt", without incident we returned to the house. "We" were the Shiatsu and I, he being delighted to run around and sniff things in the dark and be playful, I on the other hand full of purpose, ya right, I wanted that ugly critter out of my house, now!

Back in the kitchen I maneuvered the net under the stove the critter growled and made a move and I had him in the net, slowly I pulled him out from under the stove, he didn't look pleased and I was wondering "Okay smarty pants you got it in the net the net is on the floor now what? If you lift the net he gets free and he looks pissed" just then the grey slimy beast makes his move and gets tangled in the net. I quickly shove him out the door into the wash room and he escapes the net and heads BACK AT ME ! I shove the net back at him and he dodges it and comes back at me again. I shove the net at him again and he runs the other way ! Phew, that was interesting now where the H. E. double hockey sticks did he go ? I opened the door to the yard so we both would have a place to retreat, just in case. I went and got the purse pistol and with the broom in one hand and the dainty .25 cal in the other the search was on.

Where were the dogs you say ? They were at the top of the stairs leading down to the wash room wagging their tails watching their Mom do all the work, not one bark, zip, nadda. They thought I was doing a fine job why interfere ?

I found Mr. Meany, the possum, behind the feed bin I keep there for the chickens. He didn't look like he was going to give up his spot easy. I poked him with the broom he bit it and snarled he wasn't leaving. I figured if he got out of there he would attack one of my other animals like my cats or the chickens so his fate was sealed. I took steady aim at him and squeezed the trigger and squeezed harder, darn it I forgot to cock the pistol.........BANG! off went one round Sheesh it made a loud noise in that wash room, my ears were ringing. I looked at the the possum and he didn't look fazed by the bullet or the noise......so I shot him again BLAM, more ringing in my ears. Now what ? I can't leave him there what the heck do you do with a dead possum in your washroom in the middle of the night ?

I came up with plan 'C' or was it 'D' ? I don't know I lost track some where. I went back to the barn and got a shovel, returned to the house and shoved the shovel under the lifeless body of the possum and balanced it on the shovel hauled it outside in the dark, I gave it a mighty heave, ya right old lady might heave, ya sure. he landed on the wood pile I put the shovel against the wall and slammed the door. The dogs were proud of me I could tell by their wagging tails and pink tongues hanging out.

So what did you do with your evening ?

P.S. I went to the clinic today and consulted with the Nurse Practitioner about my foot that I stepped on the nail with and we agreed that the foot is getting better and to continue taking the current meds.

P.P.S. For those of you who will think I was a cold hearted you know what (rimes with itch)

for killing the innocent little animal, don't waste your time telling me about it. This is a farm decisions have to be made and some of them are life and death and I get to decide. You want to make decisions differently that's your business, these are mine.

Tractors, Masked Robbers and Nails

Well, things have been going on a pace here at the farm. I got to use the tractor a bit. I moved a large piece of culvert down to the creek, the culvert will make a bridge for the tractor to go over after a load of gravel has been dumped on it. This 'bridge' will let the tractor into the hay field easier and the hay wagons may find it smoother to get to and from the hayfield.

The raccoons got into the corn last week and were having a feast. I figured I better get some corn while I can before it is all ruined by the darn raccoons. I picked about a bushel and a half of sweet corn and cut the kernels off, then froze it so there will be some nice corn for this winter.
The suspect raccoons are getting into the corn patch at night and having meal for themselves. There is always someone horning in on a good thing.

About a week ago I was busy putting up the stock for the night and in the darkened barn I stepped on a nail. The nail went almost through my left foot. I washed it and soaked it, then thought I better get a tetanus shot so I went to the ER. I got the shot after waiting an hour or two, but the ER Doc didn't want to prescribe antibiotics at that time. A week later I have an infection in my foot and went to the local clinic and they prescribed an antibiotic that should knock the infection down. If it doesn't work I guess I am in trouble. I should know in a few days if it is working or not. I sure hope the medication works.

Nice and humid here we have had some lightening and threats of storms just not much rain, we keep hoping that the rain will come maybe later this week.

The Tractor Story

I have been searching for a farm tractor for some time now and I was getting a bit depressed about not finding a tractor I could afford then my neighbor found one for me. I went with him to look over the tractor, it is an old tractor a Ford 4000, with a front end loader. The tractor is at least twenty, twenty-five years old. So we aren't talking about some new shinny modern machine with lots of bells and whistles. A deal was struck with the owners and my friend said he would help me move the tractor.

The big day came and I withdrew the money from the bank to pay for the tractor-I always get in an odd state of mind spending money like this and today wasn't any different. I figure it is the cheap skate in me that goes into over-drive when I take money out of the bank instead of putting it in the bank.

I went to my friend's house and he had a trailer hitched up to his pick-up truck and he was ready to go. We got about half way there when he says "I think we lost a tire we need to find a shady place to change the tire", it was about 90 degrees and I wouldn't want to be changing tires out in the hot Sun either. Now Kentucky roads aren't known for having shoulders or turn-outs on them and this road had darn few. We ended up pulling into a Saw mill yard to check the tire. There are several sawmills around our county, logging is one of the businesses here in central Kentucky along with farm gates they make quite an impact on the income of the local economy, but I digress. Sure enough the tread had come off the tire and when it came off it bent the fender on the trailer and ripped the tail light off. Shorty, my friend, started looking for a lug wrench but couldn't find one in his truck I figured we would have to go back to his house and get one, when some of the men working the mill came over and looked the trailer over. They went through their trucks looking for a lug wrench, wouldn't you know they didn't have one either!

One of the men went to their work truck and got a socket and breaker bar from the tool box and just started taking off the lug nuts. Within, to me was minutes, the tire was change and the young men were shaking hands with Shorty and we were on our way to pick up the tractor. Shorty told me that he was a friend of the owner and one of the men was the son of the owner so that is why the interest in changing the tire. Like Shorty says " it pays to know folks around here", amen to that I say.

When we got to the house where we were to pick up the tractor I was a bit concerned as this is not a typical farm house this was in small up scale sub-division, the driveway was in pristine condition like it hadn't been used. I said to Shorty " we better not drive over any bushes or anything as they look expensive to replace" he chuckled and agreed. We loaded the tractor on the trailer and there was no room to spare, a very snug fit. Shorty said we would take it easy going home as we had no more spare tires and the old truck of his might not be able to handle the tractor going down hills. So off we went at a robust thirty-five miles an hour. Just our luck we had traffic. We had gotten into the evening commute time from the folks that work out of town and they were headed home and we were in the way. Every so often we would get passed by three or four cars traveling at a high rate of speed. We didn't want to stop on the way up a hill as we might have trouble getting going again, then what do you do? unload the tractor and drive it up the hill? So up hill and down hill with the tractor behind us and behind that a string of cars and trucks getting longer and longer.

I guess Shorty was feeling bad about holding folks up and we pulled into a parking lot at a store after we crested a hill and stopped. I got us some cold sodas and we waited for the traffic to lighten up a bit. Shorty checked the tires and several tires were hot, so we waited a bit longer. finally we pulled out and head down the road, we got through town okay, however some of the drivers in town were more in a hurry than I liked and started passing us on the right. I was glad when we got out of town. The big test was the two big hills just out side of town thank goodness there were truck lanes going up them. You know your going slow when the semi-trucks pass you on a hill.

We got the tractor to my farm and started unloading it. Shorty asked me if I wanted to drive it off or should he. I should have let him drive it off. When I backed it up I was more concerned with were I was going backwards than frontwards and the loader damaged part of the trailer. Darn I hated doing that to Shorty's trailer. He had gone through all the trouble of finding the tractor for me and now because of me his trailer was damaged and he was out a tire.

So, the tractor is now sitting out by the barn. I sure hope this doesn't turn into another one of my sagas. While I was gone the goats got out and ate three fruit trees. Just another day on on the farm.