It's A Jungle Out There!!

My work takes me down lots of roads and they are usually "...the one less traveled by,..."  As I was leaving Greenfield, Missouri the other day, I passed the house below.  The fleeting glance I got at sixty miles per made me turn around and go back.  There were goats on the porch roof!  My first thought was "these are some kind of statue that someone has put up there for a joke."  There were two of them, standing perfectly still, facing out, at each corner of the porch!  While I was watching them, another one wandered up and looked out of the upstairs window!  Go(at) figure!

This brought to mind an incident that happened years ago, near Nance, in Taney County Missouri.

I was working on a US Forest Service project and needed to ask permission to cross a private landowners property.  The house was set up where you walked up a sidewalk straight toward the house, turned left up the steps to the porch and turned right into the door to the house.  As I started up the sidewalk, I could see that the door was wide open.  These are important details...

Instead of walking all the way up on the porch, I just went up a couple of steps where I could reach the door frame and rapped on it a couple three times.  The reaction was sudden and raucous!  The noise from inside the house sounded like someone just opened the gate to the dog pound!  Well...I knew I couldn't and shouldn't run so I just flattened myself against the wall of the house.  In about a split nano second, three big dogs ran out the front door, down the steps, across the yard and started barking at my truck.  They didn't even notice me!!  While I am standing on the steps, pondering my good fortune, a turkey wanders out the front door and down the steps past me!  While I am trying to process this, another turkey makes it's way out the door and down the steps into the yard!

By this time, I am laughing and thinking "What else is there in this zoo?!!"  I was not disappointed.  In a couple of seconds, two peacocks come strutting out the door, down the steps, across the yard to my truck!  You talk about a welcoming committee!

I just keep standing on the steps, afraid to break the spell, when the lady of the house comes walking out the door.  This made me very happy because I was beginning to wonder if there were any humans on the place!  We stepped into the yard and I explained to her what I needed.  After answering a few pertinent questions she gave the permission to cross her land.

While we were talking though, I happened to look around toward my truck.  Would you believe it?  One of the peacocks was up on top of the cab of my truck!!  The lady saw it about the the same time I did and started hollering (in her very British accent) "Joe! Joe!...You get your (bohunkus) off of there!!"  "Joe the Peacock" didn't listen too well so I just shooed him off when I got in the truck to leave.

This little story just confirms the old truism..."It's a jungle out there!"