Some times it takes the unexptected
. . . to get me back on the blog writing. I have so much I want to blog about, but just have been too tired to type at night when I have time. I miss getting on here. I miss reading other blogs. I’ve noticed how my readership has slumped a bit since I have not been writing daily. Okay, maybe not my readership, but my daily visit log has changed.
On with the show.
This morning I was getting ready to leave for a chop-chop session (hair appointment) and an eye exam when Mog came in a told me Betsy, the dog, was digging in the back yard by the fence trying to get out. I was pretty sure she wasn’t trying to get out, but was most likely after a rabbit or a mole (the cats have been dragging up lots of moles). I run my errands and come home to Mog telling me that Betsy is still digging AND barking and yelping really loud at whatever she is after. “Mom it’s a really little hole, too small for a rabbit, and whatever is in the hole keeps making a thumping sound.” I shrug, totally not caring about it right then as I have other reasons to pull my hair out reasons for this incredible headache priorities I am trying to work on for SmockDaddy. A true labor of love.
More time passes and she comes back in to tell us, in a small trying not to panic voice, that the hole is much bigger now (thank you, Betsy) and whatever it is is large and hard and it jumps and bumps and thumps and she can see it right there at the hole. Have you figured it out yet?
I walk out to the back pasture to see what it is and I get greeted by Betsy who is so glad I have finally come to see what is up. To me she runs then back to the hole, back to me, back to the hole. I just want to ask, “Lassie! What’s wrong? Is Timmy stuck in a hole?” But we don’t have a Timmy in this house and the dog is not named Lassie. But I told her “Good Girl” anyway because she was so proud and happy about this thing in the hole that had consumed her day and I had finally come to check it out (8 hours later).
I get out there to the hole and sure enough Betsy has made a hole a soccer ball could fit into but there is much loose dirt at what is not the bottom of the hole. And then . . .
it jumped . . .
and bumped . . .
and thumped . . .
so I laughed (only slightly nervously) as we still could only see the dirt moving. I took a stick (actually a root that Betsy dug up) and decided to brave the creature that dared to live beneath my dog’s dirt and cause her so much, uhm, digging anguish. I touched the moving pile of dirt and it jumped and bumped and thumped again. But it did NOT jump and bump and thump out of the hole at me. I looked a bit closer at the moving, jumping, bumping, thumping dirt and I did it again. And it did it again. Still we could only see dirt. Then I squinted my eyes and focussed real hard and I braved myself a little closer and rubbed away some loose dirt with the root and then I knew. And I laughed. And I sent for the other children to see it. For this is what I saw:
That’s the tail, about as big around as the grip of a baseball bat. But don’t ask me how I know.
Still don’t know? Here’s a hint: those of you who live in Texas and Louisiana and Arkansas and Arizona and a few other states in the southern mid-west and southeast should know what that is.
How about a better view?
or this closeup, maybe?
It’s an armadillo.
A proud moment for the dog I’m sure. A moment that to her was as big as the time she chased away a burglar. It’s a dog’s life for sure.
What? You didn’t pick it up? I knew what it was when you said it jumped. I once threw a pine cone at one to scare it away. I hit it square in the head. It jumped straight up and hit a low hanging branch two feet off the ground, landed in the same place, and proceeded to continue digging. Oppossum on the half shell.
Ranger is very jealous as he never finds anything that exciting in Atlanta. He also wants to know if Betsy got a treat for being so brave in the face of such a terrible threat to family safety and security.
You are braver than I am. I would be freaking out if I couldn’t see what it was!!
Holley - yeah, I did try to pick him up for the children, but I could not get him out of the hole.
Chef - Tell Ranger the Betsy most certainly got a treat. That was dangerous work she said!
M to the 3rd - Brave? Nah. Stupid? Maybe. ;)
That must have been very exciting! At first I thought it was a rabbit, then I was sure it would be something very dangerous, like a big snake. Can armadillos be dangerous?
Lorimo - no, armadillos are not dangerous. There is a myth/legend that floats around about them that says they carry leprosy, but the do NOT. They eat grubs and ants and other things you don’t want in your yard/garden. but the only danger they cause is that they annoy you and your children and your neighbors because they make your dog bark like crazy at them. Also they do dig underground so they can cause some damage to a yard.
I don’t think I would have been so calm. I saw an opossum on our deck one night and about screamed!