When I was a little boy, I learned a valuable lesson from Burger King. About 40 years ago, I loved to go to Burger King, but not so much for the food (I now prefer my food to be more like food). I went to BK for the crown. I must have gone through a couple cases of those goofy paper crowns the first few years after Burger King opened in Shelby.
One night my folks took my brother and me to BK and we got home after dark. When I piled out of the car with my goofy paper Burger King crown on, our dog went crazy and came after me. I don't know what he thought I was, but with that thing on my head, he was sure that I wasn't me! After a good spell of panic and yelling and running (I am known, even today, for my calm and equitable disposition), the dog realized that it was me and apologized for trying to eat me. So what's the lesson? Be careful what you wear around your animals; they may decide to eat you.
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| Rosie in Her Favorite Mudhole |
Does this have anything to do with Rosie? It does, and I'm getting there. Since the first of May, Greene Family Farm has had 13 and 6/10 inches of rain. That's a little more than double the normal rainfall for those weeks. In spite of that, I had successfully avoided having to "suit up" in my big, huge, Dr. Doom-looking rain cape and wide-brimmed waxed canvas hat to go take care of the animals – until last week. I suited up and set out to take care of our animals in the middle of a driving rain. (Farmers never tell stories that involve drizzle or light rain or gentle rain; farmer stories are always stories about extremes.) When I came across the little rise behind which our pigs like to shelter from both sun and rain, they saw me and prepared for battle. Pigs sound an alarm that is much like a dog's bark. Rosie and the boys began sounding that alarm, and when I kept coming (in my big, huge, Dr. Doom-looking rain cape and wide-brimmed waxed canvas hat), they went on the attack. They fanned out around me, making that pig-barking sound, and began to close in. I've never been attacked by a sounder of pigs before and was momentarily at a loss. I decided to try to talk them out of it, so I began to call their names and say things like, "It's me," and "Easy little ones." I even took off the hat. That's when Rosie recognized me. Rosie, who not so long ago had given me
the evil eye for waking her from a nap, knew who I was. The bark of warning and bloodlust turned to a grunt of recognition and relief. Rosie's tail curled up and she came over for a scratch on the back. She was redeemed from giving me the evil eye, and the boys relented in their desire to eat my rain cape, and me with it.
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| Rosie - Redeemed and Resting |
I had forgotten the lesson of the Burger King crown, and Rosie reminded me. Be careful what you wear around your animals; they may decide to eat you.
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