On being ft
a farm
-And
Joyce Hupp
“Geese!” came the call early
one morning last week as the
clouds hung dark and heavy, and
raindrops tip-toed into the grass.
“What?” was my initial reac
tion. After all, the flocks of
Canadian geese transients had
long ago waved their wings over
the farm on their way north.
“No! At the pond!” came the
details.
Sure enough, on the bank
hugging the farm pond stood two
majestic Canadian geese. A second
look a few minutes later revealed
When you look at the facts...
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that two more were in the flotilla
cutting “V” shapes across the
watery surface.
Before long, they had mean
dered up toward the barn and were
taking stock of the place from the
far side of the runoff-control pond.
Plenty of tender grass shoots and
grain residue from cattle waste in
the meadow had provided
breakfast nibbling along the way.
Apparently these four feathered
friends-two pairs, or maybe four
unattached bachelors? —liked
what they found. That evening,
they were still hanging around.
But, by that time they had spied
grazing grounds more to their
liking: the protein-rich, new
growth of our most lush hayfield,
just below the backyard fence.
Wild geese-or at least the few
geese that have stopped by here in
their travels-have never come
very close to the farm buildings.
These were either carefree
daredevils or had somewhere in
their journeys become accustomed
to farmsteads.
While we kept the kitchen
windows and the binoculars busy
with our shameless, long-distance
spying, several of the cats voted
for a closer look. They crept under
the fence, and began stalking our
beautiful visitors through the foot
high alfalfa.
Super-smart birds that they are,
the geese, naturally, never missed
the move of one cat hair. Four
long, black necks were poked
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above the thick foliage, their heads
turned in the direction of the ad
vancing feline army. It looked for
all the world like four weather
vanes pointed into the wind.
Such a stare-down technique
eventually halted the advancing
cats, with one exception. Rett (no I
didn’t name him!), beloved
housecat, and basically a lover
rather than a fighter, would
protect his family single-handedly
if necessary, against these in
terlopers. Let the other cat
cowards quit; he would press on.
So the tiger-striped advance
through the leafy greenery con
tinued, every move watched by the
heads sticking out from above the
alfalfa. We, too, watched almost
breathlessly from the house, just
waiting for the fur and feathers to
fly. After all, this prey was not a
baby house mouse, one of Rett’s
usual stalking targets.
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One ill-conceived dash at these
big, fowl strangers and Rett would
be sporting a dented heat under his
beige-and-black racing stripes.
Five minutes, ten minutes, the
standoff dragged out.
And then, a silent truce of some
sort was apparently struck. The
geese began working their way off
through the field, and Rett turned
tail, slinking back toward the yard.
The classic duel between bird and
cat was not going to take the
calamitous turn we had feared.
And one cat had more common
sense than we originally planned to
credit him with.
In case anyone ever asks you
where the term “Wild Goose
Chase” originated, now you know.
It was coined by a furry friend of
this household who knew when to
quit a purposeless pursuit before
he was painfully pecked.
Just stash that fact in your
“Trivia” file for future reference.
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