Living on the Farm

Went outside this afternoon to catch up with Carrie, the sun and let the pooch run around a bit. Carrie was telling me there was a chicken sighting this morning in the front yard. Chicken sighting? Apparently, there was a raggedly looking chicken running around the neighbor's yard. In the Keys chickens are all over the place so it's a common sight, but I don't believe we have ever come across a chicken in Tampa. Hmm, I didn't really think anything of it outside of it being rather odd. So, we went out to the porch and we are conversing about this and that when we see the dog near the woods in his retriever stance tail at attention paw out front.

Carrie decides she is going to brave it and walk down to see what he has. She yells back to me that Lucky has an armadillo cornered. Really?! It's 90-something degrees out so I figured everything would be hiding out until the temperature dropped. I walk down there and it's actually four armadillos running around the woods. First off these things are seriously ugly. They have a rat tail 12+ inches long and this long pointy snout for eating insects I imagine. They are pretty big, close to 2-3 feet long and weigh a good, 10-15 pounds. I wonder if this is beast of Bellingham. Not sure, but they had large claws and were digging all kinds of holes. My lawn! My beautiful lawn! My beautiful, not cheap lawn! The dog had a small creek between him and the 'dillos plus some brush 3 feet high. Carrie and I were fascinated watching these things forage around the woods. We were within a couple of feet and they could've cared less. Neither of us have ever seen them this close before and so many.

The dog was trying to creep closer and closer when all of a sudden a chicken goes flying up out of the brush. Baw, baw, baw, bawk!, BAWK! The chicken scared the bajesus out of the dog with the poultry catching two feet of air, wings flapping about and bawking away. I mean it was the most entertaining hilariouis thing I have ever seen. BAWK! BAWK! WOOF, woof! Armadillo running for cover in the brush. I mean just a crazy chaotic scene. It was like living on the farm. Animals scattering, sun shining, tail wagging, Carrie laughing, me swigging and wishing so bad I had my iPhone to film it. Just an incredible scene. Oh, Florida, we are so going to miss you. The chicken got away (and no it didn't cross the road). He just disappeared. This whole time I was thinking beer butt chicken on the grill tonight. Do you think that wife of mine is up for a chicken plucking tonight? The armadillos totally ditched into their burrow and the dog's tail was just going crazy. He was loving it. With all the excitement over I had to run to grab the computer and share the story.

I still owe part II of the Boston adventure. There is some wildlife for that story too. Here are some more pics from our Boston trip.