As Phil Robertson says (I know, you don't watch TV and have never heard of him, so just take my word for it): "That's what happens when you marry a yuppie woman and move to the suburbs. You get skeert by a possum." I didn't marry a yuppie woman--I am a yuppie woman--and I grew up in the suburbs, having moved to this semi-rural area only a few years ago. I can't say I was terrified, but it was a definite "Yikes" moment.
(Phil's comment when a realtor tries to sell him on the joys of a new house in an upscale subdivision, adjacent to "5,000 beautiful acres": "The problem is, someone else owns the 5,000 acres, and he put a golf-course on it.")
Incidentally, the armadillo picture reminded me strongly of a picture I hadn't seen since I was a teenager. I remembered that it was an illustration on a poster for Ionesco's play "Rhinoceros." I spent many a happy teenaged hour trying to reproduce that picture in pen and ink; to this day every detail of it is familiar to me. Browsing Google images, I'm pretty sure that the poster employed this old woodcut. Even now, looking at it makes me want to start doodling:
That Pat Robertson quote reminds me of a similar story. When they were newly married, my parents went to visit one of my father's country relatives (i.e., nearly any of them) and he took them fishing on the lake. When they got back to the dock, my mother apparently didn't know how to get out of the boat safely and toppled backwards into the water.
ReplyDeleteShe came up sputtering, in time to hear my great-uncle (I think it was) shaking his head to my father: "College educated, and can't get out of a damn boat."
Albrecht Duhrer - quite a famous sketch there for your inspiration.
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albrecht_D%C3%BCrer
Or, Durer, as it is often spelled by everyone who isn't me.
ReplyDelete"Pat" Robertson, forsooth. He was never a Duck Commander.
ReplyDeleteI'm not even sure what that means. :) But it sounded like something Pat might say.
ReplyDeleteDo you know why the chicken crossed the road?
ReplyDeleteTo show the possum that it could be done.
0>;~}
The first armadillo I ever saw in the "wild" was, honest to G-d, laying by the side of the road on it's back with all four feet sticking up in the air.
ReplyDeleteBut then I'm also the one who's first real live up close bald eagle sighting was . . . the eagle eating roadkill by the side of a county blacktop in NW Iowa. So much for the Romance of Nature. *sigh*
LittleRed1
You can be pretty sure of a sighting near my house any time you go out with a flashlight. The other night we went hunting for cut-leaf ant trails after dusk and scared up three armadillos. They get a little confused by the light and don't run away very fast. This must be great habitat for them. We have tons of possums and raccoons, too, but they're more wary.
ReplyDeleteIn theory we have lots of wild animals around here -- when I'm out on the bike I see fox and deer and possum and raccoon, and smell skunks from time to time.
ReplyDeleteRight up by the house, though, we have a dog and neighbors who have several dogs. So the only nearby wildlife that can't fly are squirrels, who almost can.
There's nothing better than a panzer rat who's one day in a sweet, herb-y brine, and 6 hours in the smoker.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny that I'm in an urban area (though, in a hilly area that's less densely developed) and we see lots of wildlife. Raccoons and coyotes are very common and occasionally even enter our yard (the dog is inside most of the time). Skunks, and possums are seen on occasion- the skunks brazenly walk right down to the small part of our yard that's level. Squirrels are the regular exercise for the dog- but with all our trees, she doesn't have a chance of catching them. Then we have tons of birds on top of all that- Red Tails, owls, doves...
ReplyDeleteBut no armadillos!