Accompanied Mrs. Cow to her school on Friday to gather everything she could think of that she will need to provide remote education to all of the little darlings until the official end of the school term.?ÿ The Governor closed the school buildings two weeks ago.?ÿ As she drove out of the parking lot she asked if I was in a hurry to get home.?ÿ Told her any route she chose would be fine with me.
She took the primary back way which is almost entirely gravel roads in three counties.?ÿ In places the top speed is about 25 mph.?ÿ In others, 50+ mph is possible.?ÿ Need to watch out for coyotes and buzzards cleaning up road kill.?ÿ Don't need to worry about meeting any oncoming traffic.
As we were cruising past a cluster of homes that overlook a lake on the opposite side of the road there suddenly was a black streak crossing the road so close in front of us there was no chance for her to brake.?ÿ Lucky for the black streak he had a few inches to spare to avoid meeting up with a tire or two.?ÿ It was an otter.?ÿ While they were quite plentiful prior to homesteaders and the human population growth, they had all but disappeared from the state until a short time back.?ÿ They have made a return to our corner of the state but are still quite rare in general elsewhere.?ÿ This was the first time I had seen one not in water.
It??s been about 20 years ago or more but they brought back river otters to this area. I saw 2 of them while out on a survey. ?ÿI was surprised how big they were. Some people don??t like them since they can clean the fish out of a pond in a few days.
...Some people don??t like them since they can clean the fish out of a pond in a few days.
Someone needs to introduce them to an Asian carp population.
I can attest that you don't want an otter or family of them living under your deck.?ÿ While they have the cuteness gene, they also have a very objectionable smell that lingers long after they are gone.?ÿ?ÿ
Had a friend once that picked up a ferret (same family as the otter) as a pet. The critter was cute, affectionate, intelligent and a lot more amicable than a cat. She had to get rid of it after a few months due to the smell. No amount of cleaning seemed to abate its odiferousness.
Some folks in my hometown had 3 of them, ferrets, and you can have their "stink glands" removed...which is what they had done.
@holy-cow
I remember surveying in Coffeyville and seeing my first armadillo, alive anyway, scurrying through the leaves along a rock quarry.
Yes, there were thousands of dead armadillos seen before encountering my first live one along a Neosho River levee one afternoon about a mile from US Highway 59.
Once while taking the unofficial shortcut from Neodesha to Longton, somewhere northwest of Lafontaine, we found a dead one in the road that was in pristine condition. We carefully moved it to the center of the gravel road, put it on its back and placed an empty pop can to make the appearance that it was chillin' out and havin' a cold one. Many hours later we returned to find it exactly as we had left it.
You are probably mistaken and it was likely a Bigfoot.
I say that with the utmost confidence because I have been amusing myself by watching past episodes of Finding Bigfoot and it appears any anomalous and unidentifiable blurry image is given increased provenance of being a sure enough bigfoot no matter how small or large. It seems their natural state is to be blurry and out of focus even with the most advanced recording instruments. So you didn't see an otter you saw yourself a bigfoot. Just ask Bobo.
Have you seen the current TV commercial where a lady is interviewing Bigfoot and she politely calls him Bigfoot.?ÿ That makes him look at his foot, then turn to her and say, "Why did you call me that??ÿ My name is Darrell."
Or maybe he said Darryl, Daryl, Darel, Darl, Deral.......................................
