Winter Visitors

by Michael Hofferber. Copyright © 1994. All rights reserved.

Among the most common sounds of winter in the country, along with rustling leaves and crackling fires, is the scratching and scurrying that can be heard inside walls and rafters of almost every rural dwelling.

These are the sounds of the house mouse, mus musculus, one of the least welcome of guests and most difficult to dissuade. This uninvited visitor will eat, or chew on, almost anything and defecate everywhere. He contaminates food, causes damage to structures and property, and  carries dangerous diseases.

Introduced by 16th century pilgrims in the holds of their Atlantic-crossing ships, house mice followed the progress of Europeans in the New World, traveling in wagons and rucksacks and saddlebags and trains and trucks and planes across the continent and back, occupying pantries from Maine to Malibu.

Continued at... Winter Visitors

Rural Delivery
Farm Fresh
The Nature Pages
Artwork: House Mouse

Country Auction

by Michael Hofferber. Copyright © 1998. All rights reserved.

Driving down almost any rural lane it's not uncommon to come across a sudden gathering of pickup trucks parked this way and that along the shoulders. Unless there's smoke rising from some burning barn, chances are there's an auction in progress.

Step outside and, sure enough, there's a cry of "Eight-five, five, five. I have eighty-five. Ninety, give me ninety," wafting across a fallow field.

Move up closer and you'll find old plows and roller harrows and cultipackers lined up on display along with cardboard boxes filled with bolts, drill bits and other assorted items. A crowd of bidders follows the auctioneer up and down rows of tractors and corrugators and shop tools, hovering over each item just long enough to determine whose bid will buy it and then moving on.

Continued at... Country Auction

Rural Delivery
Out of the Past
Shop Tools and Hardware
Artwork: Country Auction jigsaw puzzle

Small Souls

by Michael Hofferber. Copyright © 1999. All rights reserved.

Some people believe animals are incapable of reason; others argue that their wants and needs are as important as our own. Some people feel animals were put on earth to serve mankind; others maintain that they deserve equal rights. Some see evidence of individual souls in the eyes of the creature world, while others do not.

For most of us, our relations with animals are varied and contradictory. Domestic pets are often treated like members of the family, while closely related wild creatures are treated as vermin. Cows and pigs are raised to be slaughtered, while horses are often nurtured into old age.

Animal rights activists campaign against cruelty to pets and livestock, but rarely speak out for rats, shrews, starlings, voles or pigeons. Some rail about the evils of hunting, but turn a blind eye to the sufferings of abandoned pets.

Continued at... Small Souls

Rural Delivery
Animal Husbandry
Husbandry
Artwork: Panda and Baby

These Boots That Do The Talkin'

by Michael Hofferber. Copyright © 1997. All rights reserved.

I found myself leaning back in my chair today, feet propped up on the desk, and staring absently out the window. My sentences had turned short and brittle. I was feeling taller, tougher, angrier. I wanted to get out of town. And I felt like spittin'.

Then I realized it was my boots. Cowboy boots, that is.

I wear several types of shoes. They lie in a jumble beneath a coat tree in the kitchen. Each to its own place and season, this footwear is more than just leather and canvas. Powers of persuasion are sewn up in these soles.

Take the sneakers, for instance. Snug. Comfortable. Contoured for play and relaxation. Folks who wear sneakers often smile for no reason and wish strangers good day. It's hard to get mad at someone if you're wearing these shoes. No wars were ever started in sneakers.

Continued at... These Boots That Do The Talkin'

Rural Delivery
Boots
Footwear
Artwork: Cowboy Boots

A Man and His Dog

by Michael Hofferber. Copyright © 1995. All rights reserved.

A man and his dog go out for a walk on a winter's day. The man follows a hay hauler's tracks through the snow. His dog bounds ahead of him, reveling in the deepest drifts and the scents he uncovers beneath them. He turns to the man.

"I smell rabbits! Let's chase rabbits!
"I'll chase and chase and chase the rabbit and then you shoot it, okay? Okay?"

The man doesn't hear. He's thinking about his cows and the price he got. Should he have held out in hopes of an upturn? He's thinking about his city job and its wages. Should he look for something better? At this age, would anyone else hire him?

The man turns down the section road toward town. In a few moments the dog emerges from a fallow field, shakes the clumps of snow from his coat, and runs after the man.

"Hey! Going to town, eh?
"Maybe we'll see some people. We can jump on them and lick their faces!"

Continued at... A Man and His Dog

Rural Delivery
Husbandry
Outrider Reading Group
Artwork: Walking the Dog in a Winter Landscape

A Winter's Sleep

by Michael Hofferber. Copyright © 1995. All rights reserved.

These are the longest nights. From now until mid-January the sun will set before most of us are done with the day's work. We'll be coming home in darkness and leaving the house again before dawn. Some folks never see their home in daylight this time of year except on weekends.
   
This is a time of torpor, when many mammals take to their burrows for hibernation. Colder weather and shorter days signal biological changes in the Earth's creatures, including man. Holidays alone are not the reason we do more shopping, put on more weight and feel more tired than usual.
   
Each of us comes with a built-in biological clock that affects virtually every function of our bodies, including sleep. Blood pressure rises and falls, pulse quickens and slows, and glands secrete proteins according to daily -- or Circadian -- rhythms established by this inner timepiece.

Continued at... A Winter's Sleep

Rural Delivery
Second Nature
Outrider Reading Group
Artwork: Winter's Sleep

A Carol's Tale

by Michael Hofferber. Copyright © 2007. All rights reserved.

Hardly anyone sings old Christmas classics like "La Bonna Novella" and "Nowell" any more. Both were big European hits in the 16th and 17th centuries. So was the German carol "Es ist ein Ros' entsprungen" ("Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming.")
 
Like a well-worn pair of boots left on the back porch, old songs lie forgotten until they lose their usefulness. Then they don't seem to fit any occasion.
 
One Christmas carol defies this musical evolution. It plays as well today as it did in 1818, and to ever larger audiences. Composed in a single day by two amateur musicians, it began its charmed career in Oberndorf, Austria on a Christmas Eve.

Continued at... A Carol's Tale.
Rural Delivery
Holidays and Notable Events
Out of the Past
Artwork: Church Choir Singing