Wednesday

Audy's Animal Anecdotes - The Thief Who Made Me Think


Audy Perry, the son of the founders of Heritage Farm wanted me to share his collection of short stories that began as simple observations of the daily doings on the farm, some tragic, though some not, but all have been written with the dear Lord in mind and lessons we can learn providing we are teachable.  The following is another of Audy's stories with just a wee bit of editing.

Just past midnight on one rainy Saturday, I was awakened by the panicked barking of our dogs. I opened the back door to find our soaking wet canines voicing extreme disapproval at a thief! This thief was not of the human kind but dressed in gray and black stripes with four legs, a tail and the traditional black mask.  A raccoon had invaded their feed bin causing this great disturbance.  Not wanting to get wet, I reached for an old baseball and threw it at the bandit and with uncharacteristic accuracy I manged to land the ball smack on its' side. Quite proud of myself, I thought for sure it would run away for good and I could return to my warm bed. This was not to be!   The raccoon proceeded to scale the corner of our home and scurry onto the roof!  The end result was a very scary attic meeting and a $100 repair bill.  I will say that the raccoon is no longer living at my house. However it donned on me,  I lost a night's sleep and a good bit of money over the defense of a forty-seven cent can of dog food! If I had just let the dogs in the garage, it would have been much easier, safer and less costly.

Many "battles" in our life are like that what I had experienced.  We go into situations thinking the only way to "win" is by defeating everyone who opposes us, and we expend massive amounts of time, energy and resources fighting battles that could be avoided altogether if we would just pause and look for alternative solutions that don’t escalate the situation.


But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then
peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit,
impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a
harvest of righteousness. James 3:17,18

Way to go Audy! How the world would be a different place if each of us  would heed this lesson and put it on our to do list for 2011.  Happy New Year everyone, may your year be filled with much love, peace and prosperity!

11 comments:

A Primitive Homestead said...

Wonderful post. Your header photo has such beautiful log structures. Do I see an old steam engine under the pole building. Blessings & Happy New Year!

Verde Farm said...

Great post and words of wisdom for sure. I have done things like this many times and realize after the fact it wasn’t the best decision. Those raccoons are certainly hard to resist anyway :)

Country Gal said...

Great post ! Love the photos of the critters !Have a good day !

Anonymous said...

Raccoons are cute little critters but they can be mean and destructive at times. Especially when they're cornered.

We don't have them around where I live but we do have to deal with them where we go camping in our local mountains. They love to steal any kind of food we leave out and will destroy an ice chest to get to it. I guess that's why the Lord created them to look like a bandit :-)

God bless you and have a great week

~Ron

Tidy Brown Wren said...

Thanks for giving me the link to this post. Very thoughtful.

Tidy Brown Wren said...

Thanks for sending me the link to this post. Very thoughtful!

A New England Life said...

You're right, sometimes we all do like to take the long way around. Especially in frantic situations like that!

I thought you would enjoy this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIjoBwmpx_0&feature=player_embedded

It made my daughters and I laugh, even if it is a bit creepy!

Magda Machnicka said...

Happy New Year, Jill and everybody there! Best wishes from Pland! I will be back later, because have to go now.

Later! :-)

Jim said...

Hi Jill! I am new to your blog as you are to mine. Liked the story and really appreciate the message of taking time out to 'pause' during the day or a situation in order to gain perspective.I look forward to future posts.

Louise said...

Thanks for stopping by my blog. I surely do enjoy the critters, both wild and domestic, and it looks like you do, also

Off to look around your site.

Willard said...

I love both the photographs and the philosophy in the story!