When City Folk Move To The Country

I can understand why "city folk" want to move to the country. It is peaceful.  Crime is almost non-existent, it's a great place to raise kids. There are just so many advantages to living in the country. You do not have to be a farmer here.

It can also be a shock. The wild animals. No trash pick-up every week unless you contract it yourself. Finding that you have to purchase your gas and electricity separately and during a bad storm your electricity can be out for hours. In the winter you can also be snowed in for days depending on the location. No city trucks to come by and clear the street or road for you . Usually the farmers in the area do it themselves. It is quite a change in your life and a shock to your system if you are not prepared for it.

When I first moved back home to take over this farm, a "city" family moved into the house a mile or two down the road. One of my pastures  was right next to their property. I had about 20 cows in that pasture. One day a woman drove up and wanted to talk to the owner. I told her she was talking to her and she said to me, "Can you please keep your cows quiet. They are disturbing us. Will you please keep them quiet until at least 10:00am?" I said, "I'll see what I can do." She got in her car and left. I was laughing so hard I had tears.

The next morning I arrived at that pasture at 6:00am with two very loud semis and unloaded another 20 cows into that pasture and left but not before I made as much noise as I could. Would you believe this woman actually called the sheriff on me?! He called me laughing so hard I could hardly understand what he was saying to me. He told her there was nothing he could do since I had broken no laws and had every right to do what I wanted with my own property.

This woman harassed me for weeks. Every where I went I would run into her. It was almost like she was stalking me. She would try to berate me and embarrass me in public and in front of people I had known all my life. All who knew me tried to tell her to stop but she would not listen.  Something had to be done. One day I was telling a cousin about all this. He was a member of a local Biker Club and said his club was looking for a place to have a big rally and one of my pastures would be perfect. So we decided on THAT pasture.

So for the next couple weeks my cousin and his friends went to work. We temporarily moved all the cows to the farm. Moved in a couple of semi flat bed trailers to use as a stage. We put them almost up to the fence that separated my property from hers and had portable toilets delivered. 

The rally lasted for 2 days. Over 100 people attended to play, eat and listen to very loud music that lasted late into the night. The loud bikes and automobiles in and out for two days. A couple fights broke out but didn't last long. It was something that normally I would not have agreed to but I was on a mission and I was not about to be pushed around by that woman. For the two days the rally took place, she did not come out of her house.

The mess I was left with was worth it. It took me 3 days to get that pasture back to normal and less than a month later they moved out and a FOR SALE sign went up. Some of the farmers and I bought the house.  We tore it down and extended our fields.

The moral of this story:  Don't mess with farmers because we don't mess around.

Badger

Badger was the dog I got about a year after Thunder passed. He was a Rat-Terrier. I bought him from a farmer who raised the breed. It was not a puppy mill but a farmer who loved the breed and took very good care of his dogs and kept their area clean.  Badger was 6 weeks old when I saw him and I picked him because he was the smallest and he bit me. I thought it was because he was feisty. I didn't realize until he became older that it was because he was an arrogant jerk.

He was easy to raise and train. He learned early to go to the door when he had to go out. The problem was he loved it outside and went to that door often. And at 6 months old, he had the other animals hating him. To the point many times I had rescued him from angry cows and horses.  Even the geese ganged up on him. Must have been that habit he had of peeing on them. Something I know he did for revenge after one day of chasing cows and one kicked him. He never chased them after that but he would catch them off guard when they were laying in the field and pee on them. In fact, he did that to any animal that made him mad.

Badger would also pick out who he was going to sleep with then get in their lap and stare at them with half closed eyes when he was ready for bed. If that didn't work then he would go to the bottom step and bark until either you told him to be quiet or you got up and went to bed. And he always got under the blankets down by your feet to sleep. He hated winter and being cold. When the furnace blower would kick on, he would stand on the register until it kicked off. Then he would run to the couch and get under the afghan I kept there to stay warm.

One day I was walking out to feed the chickens. I had a pail of water in one hand and a pail of feed in the other. Badger caught one of the horses laying down and he walked up and hiked his leg. The horse jumped up and Badger took off in a run with the horse behind him. The horse jumped the fence and was right behind Badger. And they both ran straight for me. I had the horse on one side and Badger on the other then Badger got tangled in my feet and I landed on the ground. I was soaked from the water and the feed pail went flying. It ended up on the ground with feed all over. I grabbed Badger and threw him at the horse. The horse bit him on the rear, Badger yelped and took off running into the house. I put the horse back in the pasture.  A couple hours later, Badger was outside and walked right by the horse that was standing by the fence. The horse whinnied like he was laughing at Badger. Badger growled and kept on walking. He never peed on that horse again. In fact, he stayed away from him that day on.

One day I walked out and noticed the cows in a circle with their heads down and I heard the familiar growl of Badger. I don't know what he did but he had the cows mad enough they had him surrounded. I ran out into the middle of them and grabbed Badger and took him to safety.  He went back to the fence and kicked his hind legs at the cows and then walked off with his head held high like he didn't have a care in the world.

There are several apple trees on the property. When apples fall off the trees, if they lay long enough they ferment. Many times I have seen the horses and cattle eat them and get "drunk". The squirrels eat them too and one squirrel in particular, that is always hanging around the house, is a mean drunk. One day I heard a commotion outside. It was Badger barking and the squirrel chattering. I went outside and the squirrel had Badger up a tree while he was on the ground chattering and wouldn't let Badger come down. I never laughed so hard in my life! I chased the squirrel (I  named him Stubby because he has a short tail for a squirrel) away and helped Badger out of the tree. It was a short tree with limbs close to the ground so he wasn't up very high. I still do not know how he climbed that tree.

Badger had more courage than brains. He would go after anything no matter how big or small. And as arrogant as he was, he would do his best to be a good protector. When coyotes would come down out of the hills, he would go after them barking. I would have to call him back to keep him from getting hurt. Once when he saw a raccoon by the creek he went running after it. The raccoon grabbed him and held him under water and if I had not yelled, it would have drowned him.  Badger was a good mouser. Just as good if not better than any cat. More than once he tore up the house going after a mouse. Once he saw one, he never gave up until he had it. He was also a good snake killer. 

I don't know for sure what happened to Badger. I have always believed that coyotes got hold of him. I let him out one night and he never came back. That was not unusual because sometimes he stayed outside all night. Especially in good weather. The next morning when he still was not home, I went looking for him. I found part of him on the far side of the pasture. I never found all of him and can only assume something big got hold of him. I buried him there and put up a small stone for him.

I had Badger for almost 5 years. Losing him was as painful to me as losing Thunder. Even with all his faults and as aggravating he could be at times, he was a great dog.

When I Started This..

I started this blog for myself for several different reasons. It was not easy to do this because I realize that other people will be able to read them. I have always been somewhat the kind of person who did not tell a lot about myself or my life and only tell people what I want them to know. Only certain close friends know a lot about me. I have family members that do not know as much about me as a few select close friends.

Blogging is new to me. A niece has been after me for a long time to start a blog. She thinks I have a lot of good stories to tell. The problem was: Should I blog about my paranormal experiences? Should I blog about my life on the farm? Should I  blog about my own personal opinions about certain things? (I am very opinionated as you will find out)

I wasn't sure if I wanted to stay with one subject or two or many. So I have decided to blog about it all. What ever I feel like blogging about at the time. I am not an author nor am I an expert on anything. My opinions are my own. I am not "politically correct" so some of what I put down may offend people. (all I can say about that is...if I offend you then don't read my blogs) Be warned, I am known to use very "colorful" language.

You may read about my paranormal experiences, my life as a farmer,  my views on politics, religion, kids, animals, a favorite recipe or 20. In short (I know, too late) you never know what the subject of each new blog will be but neither will I.

You are welcome to read them and leave comments. No matter if you agree with me or not. I may not respond to your comment but I will read them.