Well, this has been quite a week. We've seen more patrol cars around here in the past few days than we've seen in several years. School has been shut down for three days, people were afraid to go out alone at night, or even during the day. The widow ladies who live alone in our area were holed up in their houses afraid to even go to the mailbox.
There were roadblocks set up at every intersection in our area - little country dirt roads as well as the main highway. Traffic was stopped and cars were looked at for a possible stowaway in the back seat. I understand they even arrested six or seven people for drug possession in the process. Bet they weren't figuring on that when they hit the road up in this area!
BUT, our rapist/child molester/"whatever else he was" was caught early this morning over in Cove, AR. Apparently, he'd gotten hold of a truck and a gun somewhere, headed back to Arkansas, and went into one of the little stores over there to hold it up and "git him sum supplies"! He "done" messed up, though, 'cause they caught him in the act. Don't suppose he figured on a close circuit security system in a little "hick" town like Cove, AR. They got a saying in Texas, "Don't Mess with Texas". Well, don't MESS with Oklahoma or Arkansas, either. Our little mothers around here were taking their kids out to play "packing iron".
So, our felon is back where he belongs, school resumes tomorrow, the little widow ladies are free to go get their mail again, and tackle the yard work, and the kids can go outside and play. You know, that's one thing I don't know if Ma ever worried about when we were kids. We played outside whenever we could, walked down Hwy. 67 to our neighbor's place, or down to the crick to fish. Just me and Donna and our little cane poles and a can of worms. We'd spend hours down there - never worried about someone trying to "get" us. People didn't do that kind of stuff back in those days. At least, not out in the country where you knew everybody and everybody knew you.
I remember taking off several times on my bicycle, all by myself, and making the ride from our house, about a mile or so west to W, then all the way over to BB, then into Campbellsport, over to Hwy. 67, and then 2 miles back home. It was a LONG ride - probably 7 or 8 miles. But, I don't guess Ma ever worried about me, and I never worried about me either. Imagine turning your kids or grandkids loose for a jaunt like that today. No Way!!!
Oh, and we had another bit of excitement this morning. I mentioned before about bringing our kittens to the house and putting them in the closet because we thought something was trying to get them. Well, Bill decided to set a live trap down at the barn and see what was prowling around down there. He could just tell that something was getting in to stuff, especially the cat food.
He called me this morning from down at the barn and said, "Come on down and see what I caught in the live trap." And sure enough - there was a raccoon in the trap. I kind of thought it might be a coon because they are pretty good at getting into stuff, and it had to be something bigger than a mouse or a rat. But that little bugger was hissing and screaming, Skipper was barking and getting all slobbery. It was pretty much of a circus down there.
Bill couldn't even get the horses to come up to the barn to eat. He finally moved the trap with the raccoon in it out by the gate, and then had to go coax the horses with the feed bucket, and finally had to drive them into the barn to eat. When those two horses don't want to eat, YOU KNOW they are upset. Of course, with all the screaming and barking and hissing going on up there, I guess they thought it was just best not to get too close to the whole situation.
So, Willie hauled the coon off across Little Eagle Creek, over past where we used to live, so hopefully, with having two creeks to cross, and about 5 miles to travel, he'll stay gone. We've got the live trap set again to see if he has a friend that he's been hanging with. Just hope that it wasn't a mama with baby raccoons hidden in the barn someplace. That would really be bad.
Speaking of babies, Elicia called me this morning and said that their mama kitty had died leaving 5 little kittens to take care of. And she's like me, if it's little and alive, we're going to feed them. We found a dead mouse in the farm house one time, and she had two little white grub-like babies still there with her. She was dead and already stinking, but those two little babies were still alive. Bill wanted to give them to the cat, but I said, "No Way. They're just babies."
So, I fed them for a while and then turned them loose out under the woodpile. He never really understood the logic of "poisoning the mother to get rid of the mice, and then feeding the babies so they don't die." I don't know, it made pretty good sense to me, but ?????? Hopefully, they didn't come back in the house because then they were goners.
Anyway, I think Elicia will have her hands full trying to feed 5 little kittens for a few weeks. Been there, done that! Have fun, Elicia!
JB
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