As my reading public knows, I walk for about 30 minutes most mornings. At this time I want to impart unto you, a few observations and or memories.
First, let me tell you about the rooster.
It was a nice September morning as I was wondering along Oklahoma Ave. when, to my surprise, I heard the crowing of a rooster. Now had I have only heard it crow one time, I may have considered the sound to be something else. I was privileged to the sounds of this rooster crowing several times.
Why was this a surprise? There is an ordnance against having livestock within the city limits.
What is considered livestock? The ordnance started out for the larger animals such as horses, cows and pigs. Then it was determined that even smaller animals should be included, so basically any domestic animal other than cats and dogs.
Why was this ordnance enacted? There are a several reasons, smell, noise, and the eventual ending of the animal.
What do I mean by eventual ending? Consider this, the neighbor has a rabbit hutch with several female rabbits, and each female has babies, most likely 8 per female. The neighbor kids come over and get to see the rabbits and think the babies are real cute. A few months later these 30 babies are now grown and it is time to butcher them.
The owner grabs the first from the hutch and either using his hand or possibly the handle of a hammer, breaks the rabbits neck. He then skins the rabbit and guts it, all of which was observed by the neighbor kids.
Now the kids tell mommy and she calls the law. As you can see this doesn’t turn out well for anyone. That is why no one is supposed to have livestock.
My dad usually kept rabbits and they were not pets. When the babies were large enough they were butchered and later eaten. Rabbits provide a couple other positive things other than supper. They make fertilizer (rabbit poop) and there are always some real big worms in the poop below the cages, which can be used as fishing bate!
Let’s go to a less stressful but true story, about the squirrel. Now I do not hate squirrels but I would appreciate it if they would only remove the darn acorns from my Homestead and leave the pecans alone. I am thankful for the neighbor two houses down the street, who traps the squirrels and the animal control officer (use to be dog catcher) comes and gets the squirrel and takes it somewhere and turns it loose. Yes, they probably come back in a few days.
Yesterday, as I was talking to my sister in Missouri via phone, I observed a young squirrel cross the street and come into my yard. I was sitting in the rocker so I could not do much to discourage him, but I did wave my arms and wish that Charlie would have been there to chase the squirrel away. This varmint approached the red oak tree to my right and ascended it. I continued to observe his progress as he went from one tree to the next. When he jumped onto the third oak tree I was a little bit happier because he wasn’t heading for the pecans.
The trespasser had now descended to the lower part of the tree where he observed me for a few moments. His stare was deliberate, and I believe he was attempting to intimidate me.
Then it happened, he jumped from the tree to the bird bath and again stared at me. With reckless abandon, he took a drink, occasionally looking at me to see if I was going to react.
Finished with his drink, he jumped from the bird bath and shook his tail at me several times, then returned across the road from wince he came. Not even a thank you for the water!
That’s it from The Ford Homestead.
May the animals in your life appreciate you!
Don Ford
No comments:
Post a Comment