Sunday, April 08, 2007

Goosed


There are omens for everything where farming is concerned. One prediction my Dad would use went like this, "The badgers are digging their holes on the sides of the roads instead of in the fields...they must be expecting heavy rain."
Well I think I may have a new one for you. We have about ten pair of Canada Geese who seem to adore our lane. Every night near twilight, if we traverse our 3/4 of a mile lane, we will disturb them. One pair at a time. They are evenly spread out from one end to the other. Each pair will take turns scolding and barking at us as they march out into the field, their long necks stretched forward as far as they can reach. We roll our windows down and drive slowly so as to get the full effect of their displeasure. If they are, as I suspect, nesting, either on or near the lane, it must surely mean it's going to be wet around here. This could reach Biblical proportions. I think if it begins to rain I will go out, and pull the boat up to the front door and take the tie down straps off of the trailer.
The last time anyone boated around this farmstead was the spring of 1952. I don't recall Dad saying anything about geese on the lane before that flood though. A few catfish, but no geese.

16 comments:

Kendra Lynn said...

Hope its not too wet...don't want the crops to drown.

Happy Easter!

Kendra

Lee said...

Well, the geese ate the catfish and have now taken over! ;) Start on that ark, Cliff! :)

Peter said...

Gather the animals two by two Cliff, but be selective, leave those mosquitoes behind and a few other ornery varmints too

Anonymous said...

Cliff,
That's one way to get that lakefront property.

Unknown said...

Ten pair? Amateurs.

Anonymous said...

Hey Cliffers- something in common between our different necks of the woods.
Those migratory Ca geese love our area. Our meagre amount of land isn't home to 10 pr, but a few regularly visit front and back yard.

(Recent other wildlife caught is on photo on my current unusual post...)

Families of Ca geese live in a nearby lake and all over our area, even at the shopping mall. When we brought our kids to feed them years ago, we had to be careful because those geese bite!

Happy Belated Easter to the Morrow Clan! (Sorry I've not been able to keep up w/ timely blogging.)

EV said...

Does that fall under road rage [AKA lane rage]? You can send any excess moisture our way - the lake is still down six feet.

Here's wishing you a bumper year, Cliff! ;-)

Cliff said...

Gette, Well it's only about 10 pair stupid enough to think our lane is home. The rest are down by the lake and river.

Rachel said...

Canadian geese? Hmmm.....let's see...instead of rain, I think that means you'll get a bumper crop of snow!

Raggedy said...

I am glad you have a boat to make your escape just in case.
Have a wonderful day!
*^_^
(=':'=) hugs
(")_ (")Š from
the Cool Raggedy one

eyes_only4him said...

i had one chase me around the lake the other night, is that an ommen i wonder?

Jim said...

Be careful, one is probably laying her golden eggs.
We have water turkeys here this year. They have eaten most all the new fish in our lake, there are so many of them.
..

Miki said...

Ten pair? that isn't many! We have them holding up traffic on busy roads around here! We also have them "loading" up the baseball fields in any weather. One of our parents hailed from Texas last year, and he wanted to know where the pack of wild dogs were that left teir mark on the fields were! Hope you don't need that boat, Cliff!

Ralph said...

Geese? There were so many times last yaer I would walk off the golf course and have to to scrap their . . . well, stuff, off my shoes I came to the point I didn't care if I ever saw another one. Then one day I got my third birdie - right in the chest. He just turned looked at me and took off. I think I know what he was he was saying as he flew out of sight but can not post it here.
Ralph

Cliff said...

Yeah Ralph, we were inundated by them on Northridge for a while. Someone finally brought the right dog along golfing. That ran them off.

Jamie Dawn said...

I hate to break this news to you, but those geese are a sign of bedwetting. You better put rubber fitted sheets on all your beds because I predict a lot of wayward urine coming your way over the next few months. I'm not taking just the grandkids either. You and Marilyn might want to temporarily invest in some Depends until the flood season subsides.