Drive - A Memoir 33rd Installment
and
then the farmers will come together and set up the jackrabbit
drives.”
“Whoa,
back up – trap jackrabbits?” Russ asked.
“Okay, I have this all figured out. You know how a thousand
jackrabbits destroy a farmers haystack?”
“I've
seen the ruined hay stacks, and I’ve heard the stories,” Russ was
quick to answer.
“They eat the hay around the bottom on the stack
until they have eaten into the stack a couple feet and up as high as
they can reach; then, the stacks fall down and the jackrabbits eat
right over the mound of fallen bails until there is only a mound of
alfalfa stems left. I'm told that the jackrabbits crap and piss so
much on the hay that the cattle won't eat it anymore.”
“Right,
this costs the farmers hundreds of dollars, maybe thousands. I've got
it all figured out.” I was going to start explaining to Russ who
was perched on the front tire, but I started to shake the steering
wheel back and forth to see how long it would take before Russell got
pissed at me. “First we get…”
“HEY!
Farm boy, get off my tractor.” Tex yelled as he walked up behind
us. “You guys trying to steal my tractor? I'm going to skin ya’
alive and tack your sorry hides to the shed.”
“He's
only kidding,” I scrambled to the ground. “Isn't he? Only,
kidding us?” When I looked over at Tex trying to decide if I should
high tail it, he was chuckling and smiling at us. He was a wiry type
of strong, the kind of toughness he got by riding horses most of his
life, and he had a scary kind of face from being out in the sun all
his life. At least, he was intimidating to me.
“Got
to go,” he said. “I'd like to stay and jaw at ya’ for a while
but I have to get to the Hamer bar for the big card game. I hear Phil
is going to be there, so this is going to be a good night.” With
that he reached over and messed up my hair, started his tractor, and
chugged down the lane.
“I'll
let you in on a secret,” I told Russ. “It was Tex that gave me
the trick to my trap, but the rest of this great money making scheme
is all mine.”
Russ
looked up at the sun and said, “Looks like we have about an hour
before chores so let's go to the jungle behind the house.” The
jungle is what we think a jungle would be having never seen a jungle.
The half acre behind the old house had at one time been a garden of
sorts. There was a couple of apple trees, an overgrown hedgerow of
lilacs, and several berry patches, raspberry, gooseberry, blackberry
and a bitter tasting red berry probably red current bushes.
500 more words tomorrow
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