Follies October 2024
As we drive down the highway of life, we can now look in the rear-view mirror to see September. Yes, October is here. As we look at October for me as a young man, it was hunting squirrels, my birthday and Halloween. And none of those past big three dates now bother me a bit. News Flash time changes all things! Now the full moon is on Thursday October 17th, and it is called the Hunters Moon. The reason this name was adopted was as the crops now being harvested, the Indian men would now concentrate on hunting for the winter meat supply. Also since the fields were now clear it made the game easier to spot in the open fields. The 2024 October full moon is also a Super Moon, meaning this moon has the closest orbit to earth and will appear nearly 7% larger than any other moon this year. Always keep in mind that the full moon’s names differ from Indian tribe to Indian tribe for instance the Cree Tribe called the October Moon the Migrating moon because of the birds heading south.
By now I hope both children and teachers are adjusting to being back in school, and this brings to mind years ago when my cousins that were in the FFA participated in a program that dealt with pest control. This was a competition for the members to earn points by killing the pests that had a negative impact on the farm operations. For instance, rats, mice and so on. As my memory best serves me, the point system was something like this….. sparrows, the right wing-two points, mice the tail-5 points, Blackbirds right wing-five points, rats the tail-ten points, pigeons right wing-ten points, crows right wing-ten points, muskrats right foot-20 points, beaver right foot-25 points. Now these point values may not be exact, but you get the idea. This was a popular competition with the students since the most points at the end would receive some nice prizes.
Like all programs there were some problems that came up with the competitiveness between students. One night some young men were tipped off about a hotspot for black birds and sparrows. One young man had been there the night before and was very successful, so he contacted two other friends and plans were made to go again that night. The three friends and a younger brother made plans to go on the expedition for pest control points. As they arrived, the location turned out to be a huge dairy operation, and the hunt began. BUT all did not turn out as planned. They were only there for a few minutes when a flashlight was shown in their faces, and the man behind the light was holding a shotgun with the hammer pulled back pointed at them. The man brandishing the shotgun then yelled, “Don’t move! Hands up!” Immediately the boys put up their hands.
“I want to see some ID!”
As one youth reached for his back pocket, “I said don’t move!” Now, you must know, it is impossible to show ID without moving.
One young man, fast of foot, started to show signs of running, and the caretaker told him, “Go ahead! I’d love for you to run!” To make this situation must worst, the man with the shotgun was shaking like a leaf while fumbling for a cigarette.
“Okay! Okay! Take it easy!” the boys pleaded.
“I’m calling the game warden!” the man yelled.
They replied, “Yes, please do!” They were never so happy to see a Game Warden in all their life. Now to back up a little, the man with the weapon was the tenant caretaker of the farm, and to make matters worse the night before that party did not have permission to hunt on the farm especially in the late night, and this night the caretaker was lying in wait.
When the warden arrived, he relieved the caretaker of his weapon and with that the tensions were also relieved. To the three older youths he gave tickets, even though they asked for a warning. The youngest, at a ripe old age of 12, the warden let off since he was a victim of being with his 16-year-old brother that night. The court date set, they were sent straight home.
The day of the hearing, the young man and his parents appeared in court, but fortunately the game warden spoke up for the boys. He was well acquainted with the boys for in the past they helped stock trout and were active in other community service activities. The judge then asked the boy if he would throw out the charges if he promised not to ever go to the farm again.
The boy in his relief replied, “H**l NO!! I never go back!” “Case dismissed,” and they left the court room, but now he was in another court for as soon as they were out of the room his mother passed sentence on him for using such language in the court room, which was probably worse than the judge would have given him.
Lastly during this time period Quality Feed was having problems with rats, so severe that their tunneling under the railroad tracks had caused a safety issue for the trains. So, a project was started to eliminate the rat problem. After the poison was placed and results were many dead rats were found, but there was a mystery. Many of dead rats had no tail. Actually, no tails on the rats. What could possible cause this? Well, your roving reporter Ronnie can be like Paul Harvey and “tell you the rest of the story.” The cause was when the night shift came in to mix feed and while waiting for the feed to mix the rats having tunnels in the walls there would be places in the wall where the boards would not come together, and the rats’ tails would hang out from between the boards. One of the night shift workers would grab the tails and take his knife and cut them off, then throw it in a box for a FFA student to receive points. Off the tailless rat would go. Well, you may not believe this TAIL, but it is true.
Believe it or not
Until Next Time
Ronnie
