My wife and I bought a family membership to the NC Zoological Society about a month ago. We were planning a family trip to the NC Zoo in Asheboro, so we bought a membership for us and one more adult. We figured that since we make about one trip a year to one of the aquariums at our state’s coast and the zoo admission was sufficiently high that a membership that covers both places would make sense financially.
Had I known of all the animal sightings we were going to encounter in the coming weeks, I would not have gone to the zoo. Just this Monday we saw a vulture in front of our house. It was checking out a dead squirrel that had gotten run over in the street. When we came out the door, the startled bird flew away and I was a bit surprised to see a large bird taking flight at the end of my driveway. Then I looked to see what he was munching on and saw the dead, flat, gray rat with a bushy tail laying in the road.
Selma has an ordinance covering stray dogs. “It is unlawful for any owner or keeper of any dog to permit such dog to run at large within the town.” That is verbatim from the town code. It seems that we have a lot of them running around lately. I do take my dog outside, generally off leash since we pretty much cover from my house to the corner and back. My dog knows his territory and in general stays within it. When he has done his sniffing (reading the newspaper, as I call it) and relieved himself, we go back inside. My dog is always indoors, with me as we go outside together, or in my fenced backyard.
Lately we have been having issues with at least five different dogs wandering through the neighborhood. Three of them are habitually running loose. They especially become a nuisance when I attempt to take old Barack Odoga outside. Just last night a stray Golden Retriever came up to play with my dog, startling both him and myself. The dog got underfoot and I stepped on one of its paws. Whether I use a leash or not (and I occasionally do), these strays are a nuisance. My neighbor’s dogs have been known to be up at 2 AM barking at strays. That of course sets off the entire neighborhood alarm of barking dogs.
Selma has another town ordinance that has to be fractured in order to take care of the aforementioned one. One of the stupidest ordinances in town simply states, “Any person using an air rifle in the town shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.” There are no qualifiers for this ordinance. On my own property, I should be allowed to fire my Daisy Red Rider that I have owned since I was age ten. As long as I am not shooting anybody else or damaging the property of others, I should be allowed to have a BB shooting range in my back yard if I want. Besides, a BB in the side of a stray dog has been known to get rid of the nuisance. It is obvious that there are no real animal control efforts going on, so someone has to make the pesky critters leave the premises.
The last animal display that we saw happened within the last week. I took my wife and children out for an inexpensive family meal. The establishment serves up a pizza, salad, and soup buffet. It is fairly cheap, so we have been known to go there once in a while.
On Saturday afternoon we were grazing on the salad and attempting to find some normal style and appealing pizza on the buffet when a swarm of locusts entered the restaurant. I almost felt like Pharaoh after I refused Moses’ demand to let his people go.
An entire team of child soccer players came in while we were there. At first I said that they were going to be like locusts and pick the buffet clean. These children were all wearing uniforms that actually had a foreign company sponsor’s name in a foreign language on them. I don’t care from whence you come, but if you are going to enjoy the freedom in America and the relative prosperity that we have, at least assimilate to the language and culture.
While my wife and I took turns going up to the buffet to bring back plates of different kinds of pizza for our two children and ourselves, the locusts acted more like wild jackals. They pushed, shoved, and handled their buffet of prey. They picked apart the food with their bare hands, stepped on feet, ran into people, and never once apologized for doing so. They were loud, filling the entire restaurant with a buzz of foreign language, laughter, and the sound of silverware and plates clanging. We could barely hear each other above the din.
Who needs the zoo when we have wild dogs, vultures, cute gray rats, locusts, and jackals right here in Johnston County?
Showing posts with label animals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label animals. Show all posts
Friday, August 19, 2011
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Column for Dec. 17, 2009
I have been recently complimented by several readers about the fact that I don't sugar coat things and am not afraid to state my opinions. That has been either a great gift or a great bane in my life, depending upon how you look at it. Then again, that is why I am sitting behind the keyboard right now. I have a list of things about which I have been pondering. I do believe that I will touch on several subjects today from my list.
First, I read with interest the plans to perhaps establish an historic district in Selma. I find it equally interesting that the Town of Benson recently voted down such a proposal. Historic districts are nothing new. I have been familiar with hysterical, I mean historical societies and their work in other towns, as well. My biggest opinion on this topic is simply that something, whether it is a building or other object, is not inherently historic just because it is old. In town, the Mitchener Station building may be considered historic since it was in effect the genesis of the town. My house in town was built in 1950. By definition, it is qualified as historic. However, it is a plain single family residence, and nothing of noteworthiness occurs here except that this is where I usually craft this column and where I raise my family. There are many such homes and buildings in this town. Big deal. Perhaps the most interesting and most noteworthy thing in Selma of historicity is the Vick Building. Vick's Vaporub is a world famous product and was developed right down the street from my non-historic home. I am going to stop myself before I get into the concept of developing an historic district and the eventual resulting regulations and disrespect for personal property rights. It is allowing the proverbial camel to put his nose in the tent.
I despise political correctness, as you may know. I was amazed when I was informed that I can no longer refer to particular restaurant employees as a waiter or waitress. My six-year-old informed me that the proper term is "server" and that we should never call a waiter a waiter or a waitress a waitress. I was informed that this is the type of garbage that is being taught in elementary schools. So, a first grader is not being taught how to look at a clock and tell time in school but is being taught about parallelograms, trapezoids, and servers. I don't know about you, but I learned to tell time long before I ever learned geometric figures. Impressionable young minds that can not tell time can be taught the politically correct terms for wait staff, and I think I have to remedy both at home.
Is it just me or is North Carolina about the worst state anywhere for leaving road kill on the side of the highway? I have traveled through a good many states and do not recall seeing anywhere near the amount of dead deer, possums, dogs, cats, raccoons, and other critters laying dead on the road side as I do here in Carolina. What is worse is that these carcasses are left to rot for weeks, sometimes months. I recall seeing dead deer become flat from decay after months of neglect. Other states are very active in picking up dead animals. We could do a whole lot better. Don't even get me started on the litter problem here compared to other states. Enough about flat cats and smeared deer, though.
The Christmas holiday season excepted, am I the only one left in the area that flies the American flag every day? I am just curious. It used to be common to see people fly the flag regularly in many areas of the state and country. I now rarely see ordinary citizens fly a flag at their own homes except maybe for a few days at the beginning of July. I will offer my old flag and maybe even a flag pole and mount to the first person who contacts me and asks for it. My old version of Old Glory may be faded some and a little weathered from waving in front of my non-historic home, but she is still beautiful and stands for a great nation.
First, I read with interest the plans to perhaps establish an historic district in Selma. I find it equally interesting that the Town of Benson recently voted down such a proposal. Historic districts are nothing new. I have been familiar with hysterical, I mean historical societies and their work in other towns, as well. My biggest opinion on this topic is simply that something, whether it is a building or other object, is not inherently historic just because it is old. In town, the Mitchener Station building may be considered historic since it was in effect the genesis of the town. My house in town was built in 1950. By definition, it is qualified as historic. However, it is a plain single family residence, and nothing of noteworthiness occurs here except that this is where I usually craft this column and where I raise my family. There are many such homes and buildings in this town. Big deal. Perhaps the most interesting and most noteworthy thing in Selma of historicity is the Vick Building. Vick's Vaporub is a world famous product and was developed right down the street from my non-historic home. I am going to stop myself before I get into the concept of developing an historic district and the eventual resulting regulations and disrespect for personal property rights. It is allowing the proverbial camel to put his nose in the tent.
I despise political correctness, as you may know. I was amazed when I was informed that I can no longer refer to particular restaurant employees as a waiter or waitress. My six-year-old informed me that the proper term is "server" and that we should never call a waiter a waiter or a waitress a waitress. I was informed that this is the type of garbage that is being taught in elementary schools. So, a first grader is not being taught how to look at a clock and tell time in school but is being taught about parallelograms, trapezoids, and servers. I don't know about you, but I learned to tell time long before I ever learned geometric figures. Impressionable young minds that can not tell time can be taught the politically correct terms for wait staff, and I think I have to remedy both at home.
Is it just me or is North Carolina about the worst state anywhere for leaving road kill on the side of the highway? I have traveled through a good many states and do not recall seeing anywhere near the amount of dead deer, possums, dogs, cats, raccoons, and other critters laying dead on the road side as I do here in Carolina. What is worse is that these carcasses are left to rot for weeks, sometimes months. I recall seeing dead deer become flat from decay after months of neglect. Other states are very active in picking up dead animals. We could do a whole lot better. Don't even get me started on the litter problem here compared to other states. Enough about flat cats and smeared deer, though.
The Christmas holiday season excepted, am I the only one left in the area that flies the American flag every day? I am just curious. It used to be common to see people fly the flag regularly in many areas of the state and country. I now rarely see ordinary citizens fly a flag at their own homes except maybe for a few days at the beginning of July. I will offer my old flag and maybe even a flag pole and mount to the first person who contacts me and asks for it. My old version of Old Glory may be faded some and a little weathered from waving in front of my non-historic home, but she is still beautiful and stands for a great nation.
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