Feral Swine

So, I've mentioned how I have an irrational fear of panthers hanging out in the tree tops, right?  No?  Well, ever since I read Little House in the Big Woods way back in the dark ages of elementary school, I've been afraid of panthers.  Specifically, panthers in trees waiting to pounce on me.  Remember the chapter in Little House where Pa is late returning home from town & there's a panther in the tree tops stalking him as he rides his horse home?  Yeah, well, that image stuck with me.  To this day, I'm a little freaked out to be outside at night if there are trees around. I just know that panther is up there, waiting to pounce.

And then there's my more natural fear of our local wildlife, mainly bear and snapping turtles.  Bears live in the woods behind our house.  We've seen them.  I think it's fairly natural to be afraid of them.  And then there's the snapping turtles.  I've encountered two since we moved to this house.  The first was back in the early days of when I used to run.  I ran down a hill (more like stumbled back in those days,) rounded a curve in the road and there he was.  He was huge, he was dead center in the road and he apparently smelled my fear, exhaustion and inability to run properly because he launched himself towards me & chased me half way up the hill.  If you've ever been chased by a snapping turtle, you know how frightening it can be.  And admittedly funny.  Funny & frightening.

My next encounter with Mr. Snapping turtle was several years later.  I got in my car to go to work, started to drive down our driveway & had to stop.  Mr. Huge Butt Snapping Turtle was sitting dead center of our driveway.  He was so big the bumper of my car wouldn't clear him and he was in that one small area of our driveway that's lined on one side by bushes & the other side by trees.  Mr. Huge Butt Snapping Turtle just sat there looking at me and hissing.  Have you ever heard a turtle hiss?  It's terrifying!  I ended up having to throw rocks at him to get him to move out of the way and then I had to call work & say I was going to be late because a turtle had been blocking my path.  Once again, funny & frightening.

So to make a very long story short, I have a fear of panthers, bear & snapping turtles.  And now apparently, I also need to worry about feral swine.

Report Feral Swine

Feral swine!  Pigs on the loose!  I didn't even know there was such a thing.  Apparently there is because yesterday, when I stopped by the post office, there was a warning sign on their bulletin board.  I laughed all the way home, until I had to get out of the car, that is.  I'll admit, I was a bit leery to step out of the car.  What if a feral pig was out there in the bushes beside our driveway, just waiting to attack?  Good Lord.  I'll probably never gather the courage to leave my house again.

On the Beach with Reyna

Have no fear though.  (Well, except fear of panthers, bear, turtles & feral pigs.)  It's okay if I'm trapped in the house.  I have yarn and books.

I'm four rows plus the bind off away from completing my Reyna shawl.  Hopefully tomorrow's blog post will be short & sweet & just say "done!"

And since the rain has finally stopped and the sun has popped out & brought summer like temperatures with it, it's put me in the mood to start my summer reading.  Besides the normal garbage that I read, (yes, I admit - I love a good trashy novel) I have three books that I rotate re-reading each summer.  This year, the rotation falls to On the Beach by Nevil Shute.  My high school English teacher, Mrs. Hall, made us read it.  At the time, I some how missed the whole 'there'd been a nuclear war' thing and the book made absolutely no sense to me and I hated it.  (I'll never claim I was a good student.)  But a year or two after high school graduation, I found myself at the beach with nothing to read.  A copy of On the Beach happened to be in the room where I was staying & I picked it up & started reading.  I really have no idea why I like the story so much.  It's SO tragic!  But I do like it and I've read it while sitting on the beach, every few summers since.

So, do you knit and read?  If so, why not join the Wedenesday Yarn Along over at Ginny's blog, Small Things.