We were on the driveway heading back from the mailbox as we do everyday about this time. Only about 50 feet from the mailbox and still quite a ways from the house, the three of us stood motionless while I pondered our options. First off, I couldn't imagine what I had seen. I only caught a glimpse of the creature as it ran across the road and disappeared in the tall grass. The body was as large as a Beagle and similarly colored--mostly beige with dark patches. That was all I saw as it blurred by.
As we stood in the middle of the road I continually scanned the grass trying to determine if the creature had kept running or was hunkered down nearby. Within a few moments my question was answered as my heart dropped into my shoes. Our eyes met and my mind immediately raced for some glimmer of recognition. Nothing I knew of matched the face that stared back.
The upright round ears looked like that of a koala bear. The white stripe down the middle of the face reminded me of a skunk. The rest of the face was also striped, which reminded me of......nothing. The buff colored body and dark face--still drawing a blank. Well, I thought, it must be something. And, it must be something that is watching us, waiting....
Waiting for what? Is it aggressive? Is it just curious like me? Is it waiting to jump on one of the dogs? Is it...? What the hell is it? Whatever it is it's big, perhaps 30 pounds big. That's too big. Now I'm scared. The girls still haven't seen it or gotten a whiff that something is nearby. We were a good 40-50 feet away from it, but it positioned itself only about 10 feet from the edge of the road that we needed to pass by in order to return home.
There was no way in hell I was willing to risk passing this creature with two screwy, headstrong dogs at the end of a leash, especially since it was watching us perched so close to the road.
Fortunately, Pat had just returned home from a day in the mountains with Liam and was busy outside parking the horse trailer. I called him and asked if he could come and get us. The tone in his voice immediately changed as he asked, "what's wrong?" I told him that something big was in the grass near the road and it was watching us. Without hesitation he jumped into the truck and headed down. As the truck approached, the creature disappeared into what I later saw was an enormous hole.
Once we three were safely inside the truck I described the creature to Pat. He assured me it was a badger and that I was smart not to cross its path. Apparently, badgers are known for their fierceness, their meanness, and their ability to shred anything that gets in their way.
As I later learned, the badger is mostly nocturnal so I guess I was lucky to have seen one in the middle of the afternoon. Lucky too that I saw it before walking close enough for the girls to make their howdy-do's. And lucky that Pat was home and able to rescue the three damsels in distress.
Today was indeed a lucky day. And so it is.
Photos courtesy: Google Images
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