Tough Kids

Country kids are so much fun. Our two Granddaughters, ages 5 and 6, were on fall break Thursday and Friday, they spent both nights with us. So they were here all day Friday and Saturday.

They entertained themselves by herding the chickens. They kept them in a tight little group, running and chasing them while screaming and giggling. Finally the sounds of shear joy brought Mamaw out of the house to see what they were up to. They got a stern warning about why they should never chase or otherwise annoy chickens. They took the lecture like they take most other lectures, with sly little smiles on their faces. Sometimes I have doubts that I am getting through, other times I know I'm not.

They enjoy simple pleasures when they are here. I was called upon to take them for walks on both Friday and Saturday. All of my Grandkids love for me to take them for walks for some reason. I think they like the sounds my lungs make after climbing steep slopes and crawling up mountainsides or maybe the different shades of color that my face turns.

It had rained most of the day on Friday, so the mud was just the right consistency to be super slick. They both had on black rubber boots with cleats but I had on my worn out Crocks which have no sign of the tread that used to grace their bottoms.

I managed somehow to stay upright, though it was difficult at times. Both of the girls nearly fell a couple of times with one of them finally getting the job done.

What they love to do on these walks is hunt mushrooms and arrowheads. We have done some study on fall mushrooms and while we haven't eaten any yet, we have found some. As for the arrowheads, we haven't found any complete or good ones for awhile but they still collect the chips and broken pieces. They also collect any rock that they think is beautiful.

On Saturday night after grilled chicken, baked potatoes and smores prepared on an open campfire, the two girls and I settled in around the fire for singing and scary stories. I had their baby brother bundled up in a warm blanket on my lap. He didn't last long, it was too dark and comfy, he was snoring within minutes.

The girls sang a few songs then took turns telling scary stories. I pointed out a ghost light in the woods but that didn't interest or scare them. Then I pointed out the fact that their Daddy would probably sneak around in the darkness and try to scare them but that didn't interest them either. He does that so much that it has lost it's affect.

While they were busy trying to outdo each other with their stories, the coyotes started singing nearby. Now this would have added to the general atmosphere of the evening for most young children but not my Granddaughters. I shushed them to listen and they listened for maybe 3 seconds and resumed their stories. Then another pack of coyotes started their howling on the other side of us, very close. I shushed the girls again, to which they deep sighed and immediately started back with the stories.

I gave up, I realized that these country girls just don't scare easily. They have heard coyotes before, so what's the big deal? They have been outside after dark before, so what's the big deal? Their little sister who will be 3 in December, is much more fun. She is terrified of Pirates and Chicken Poop.

The only thing that I have been able to scare these two older girls with is Gobblezilla, he is a giant Turkey who only comes around at Thanksgiving time. He rides on top of their car and is always waiting out there in the darkness ready to gobble them up.

Animal Cruelty

The warm weather is over for us. I brought Bootstrap back to the barn and put him in a cage with lots of straw. He just was not strong enough to deal with the cruelty of the rest of the chickens. I put him back in the goat/chicken shed and they ran him out, got him down and were trying to kill him when I rescued him. It wasn't only the roosters that attacked him but also the hens.

If you listen to those who say that humans are the only animal that kills for sport or that humans are more cruel than any other species, you can pretty well bet that they have not had much animal experience.

Dogs, Coyotes, Wolves and big Cats with go into a pen with animals that have no way of escape and kill everything there and not eat anything. The excuse that they are given is that they are teaching their young to kill, but that doesn't hold true when it is just one dog, coyote or wolf.

I have heard of a pen full of pigs being killed by a pack of adult dogs with nothing being eaten. The same thing happened to several Alpacas that I read about and I know of goats being attacked and severely injured by well fed neighborhood dogs.

Chickens have no compassion, they simply eliminate the weakest among them. A hen will peck another hen's chicks to death for no good reason.

Goats will injure each other with or without horns. Many does miscarry after being butted hard by another doe. A doe with newborn kids can be horribly vicious to another doe's newborn kids even injuring or killing them.

Horses are brutal to each other. We had a mare who was close to foaling kick another mare's newborn foal as hard as she could, the poor little guy went rolling head over heels but somehow was not injured. I even saw a friend's mare kick her own young foal after biting it several times, she kicked her so hard that it was a miracle that she didn't have broken bones, just because she tried to eat some grain with her mother.

If you are still not convinced that animals can be cruel, just watch your kitty cat with a mouse, bird, chipmunk, baby rabbit or squirrel. They love to torture before the kill.