Where the wild things are

Yesterday I took a little toodle out on the 4-wheeler and next time I'm going to have to pack two things with me - a camera and a gun - because apparently, where the wild things are, is at my house :)

There were three deer at one of the ponds behind our house. We took a few minutes to check each other out before they jumped the fence and headed north. I tried to take a photo with my phone, but they were too far away. I drove around to the other side of the dam just in time to see them bebopping across the pasture and then across the road.

When I got to the backside of the hay meadow I stopped at the gate to take a looksee at the  beautiful green landscape. Green is not a color we've seen a lot of around here lately. We're in the worst drought since the dustbowl of the 1930's and everything is brown and dead or black and burned from recent wildfires. But, we had a little bit of rain last week, so now everything has greened up.

SKUNK!! Rooting around about 30 yards away from me. I immediately wanted to turn and ride away as quickly as possible, but that might have gotten me sprayed, so I just sat still, trying my best to not disturb Pepé Le Pew. Have you ever smelled a skunk's spray close up? Ooooooh, it's awful! Up close, it's a completely new kind of stench; it'll run you right out of the county. I don't even know what I can compare it to that would give any indication of what it smells like or how bad it is. I had a dog that got sprayed once and I gave her a tomato juice bath - which didn't work - and I had the dry heaves the entire time. It's an unbelievably sickening smell. Anyhoo, I was so focused on the skunk that I didn't even see the three deer - not the same deer from before - at the pond until they bolted up out of the brush and were eastbound and down at a full run, bushy white tails pointed straight up, giving me a good-bye wave.

I managed to slink away without upsetting Pepé and I stopped at the top of the hill when I saw an animal bedded down in the tall grass. I couldn't immediately tell what it was, but when it got up I thought, "This is where a gun would come in handy." It was a coyote! Since I didn't have a gun and I had some time to kill, I just yelled "Yaw!" at him like he was a pack mule as I chased after him with the 4-wheeler. If I see that sucker tomorrow he's going to be a dead coyote. My dude killed one less than 100 yards from our house a few days ago and lawdy does it stink! If you get down wind from it, you'll be coughing and gagging and experiencing a severe case of the dry heaves. It's awful smelling.

There were also a few grasshoppers that flew down my shirt, several that hit my face and one or two that tried to get into my mouth. They were having a party and I was the guest of honor.

Yesterday was also opening day for dove season. This is like a religious holiday for my dude. The boys were eating breakfast at 5:30 am and then off they went, outfitted in camo and carrying big guns. They bagged their limit and then spent the afternoon cleaning birds - not something you will catch me doing. GROSS! He came home and told me all about it and the story alone almost made me heave. It took me nearly 30 years of life before I could cut up a chicken - not a live chicken, but the whole chicken you buy at the grocery store - so, I can assure you I won't be cleaning birds any time soon! However, I did accidentally kill a bird earlier this week. He flew in front of me and hit the front of my car and when I looked in my rearview mirror there was a cloud of feathers flying behind me. Seriously, a cloud of feathers. Sorry, bird.

And sorry about the gross stuff :)