Living in the country does have its advantages and, in some cases, its disadvantages. Why, it’s probably just how you want to look at it.
A visitor to the country might think that the smell of chicken houses or hog parlors is deplorable. But all the-while the local farmer just might smell money or food on the table.
There are so many lights in the cities and towns that you can barely see the stars at night. But while out in a country field, you can just about count every star.
It’s also true that strange things do happen both in our cities and in our countrysides.
In my story today I would like to tell of a couple of “strange” but true events that happened around my place over the years. There are lots more, but maybe later.
The first event took place in the fall, on a cool moonlight night, a few years back. Just before I went to bed that night I heard a terrible racket in my backyard. As I cracked the back door it seemed that every dog in the neighborhood had something surrounded. As I shined my light I could see what appeared to be a large fox in the middle. Why, some dogs were just barking, while others were nipping at the bewildered fox. It looked like an old western where the Indians were attacking a wagon train.
I really didn’t know how to break up the fight except by hollering and shooting my 22 rifle into the air.
At the report of the rifle, the dogs jumped back and the fox, instead of running for the woods, just walked over in front of my building. As I shined my light on the fox, he began to show his teeth and was acting like he would attack anything. Could this wayward fox be rabid?
Meanwhile, my wife had stepped out onto the deck and was holding some of the dogs back. Knowing my wife could have been exposed by the dogs I couldn’t take a chance of letting the possibly rabid fox get away, so I shot twice and killed the fox.
When things settled down, I put on a pair of rubber gloves and placed the dead fox in a large plastic bag. I knew the fox had to be checked for rabies.
The next morning the animal control officer came and picked up the fox and sent its head to Raleigh to be checked.
A few days later the results came back negative, which was a blessing. The only other damage that was done that night was that one of the bullets missed the fox and went through the aluminum outbuilding’s door. With further investigation, I found the bullet had ricocheted off the cement floor and hit an old picture of the Lord’s Supper. Why, it had busted the glass in the frame and hit Judas Iscariot right in the chest!
Another strange but true story was one day I was down at my pond and it looked like a herd of pigs had rooted all around the bank. I couldn’t quite figure out what had done all this rooting.
The next morning when I went outside, every bucket in my yard had been turned over and my self- feeder that I feed my dogs with had been torn off the pole and all the feed was gone. Why, even my cast-iron wash pots had been overturned and rolled all over the yard like toys.
Something big was on the prowl and I meant to find out what it was real quick.
The next day was rainy and I did some work inside. That evening I decided to take a nap on the couch. I hadn’t no more than gone to sleep when I heard a bump in the front yard. Thinking it was one of my dogs, I just closed my eyes again and went into a deep sleep.
All of a sudden I was awakened by another big bump just outside my front door. Being half awake, I peered through the window. What I thought I saw was about a 500 lb. boar hog, which looked like Hogzilla, rooting around the bird bath.
Was I seeing things or still dreaming? I slapped my face and wiped the fog off the window but still the humongous hog was standing in my front yard.
Not knowing anyone who owned such a hog, I called my friend Frank, one of the local Animal Control Officers. He promptly came out, but not before my evidence ran off.
Frank and I looked at the damage in my yard and the large footprints that Hogzilla had left. Frank said that they had reports from as far as three miles away about this huge hog but nobody had claimed him or could capture him. They had even set traps but the hog wouldn’t take the bait or else would tear the traps to pieces.
Just as Frank started to leave we heard several large grunts in the edge of the woods and to our amazement here Hogzilla comes. Frank’s eyes got as big as saucers as he jumped into his truck. “I got to have some help” Frank said, as he quickly drove away.
To make a long story short, Animal Control never captured Hogzilla. He just seemed to have disappeared as quickly as he had appeared. So folks, be aware, because Hogzilla could show up in your yard at most anytime.