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Kate Henry's avatar

I've never lived with a goose. I hear they are good watchdogs but this one didn't get the memo that Granny "was the good one, leave her alone". Bite the hand that feeds you and you'll feed that hand.

Close around 75 cats and half dozen dogs in my life. None of them attacked. I broke up a cat fight once and got bit in the middle of that, but he lived another 10 years, quite apologetic. Never ate a goose either. I hear they are good with gravy.

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Sharron Bassano's avatar

Kate, the cat lady ( but not the Crazy Cat Lady) - she knows her critters, both two-legged and four-legged. I think maybe that goose was too ignorant to know about biting the hand that fed him. He learned his lesson.

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Linda Brown's avatar

Good visual! I remember when I was a child witnessing the "passing away" of a farm chicken. Not sure I'd have been a good farm girl... While grocery shopping for chicken now, I have to pay extra for the already cut up style as I nearly made myself sick when, in college years ago, I tried to save a few pennies by buying one whole and I couldn't stomach the necessary cutlery involved.

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Sharron Bassano's avatar

Ha ha ha! Terrific story. Yes. Meat is just meat when it is nicely wrapped in plastic wrap on a styrofoam tray in a bright shiny market. If you'd ever gone to an abattoir or a chicken "processing" plant, you would become vegetarian instantly...

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Rebecca Holden's avatar

When I first cooked a meal for my now-husband he walked past me as I was cutting up some raw chicken.

'I could be vegetarian', he told me.

'Gosh,' I thought, 'have I blown it?'

Next time, I made macaroni cheese. 'This is lovely', he said, 'but it would have been even better with bacon in it.'

'I thought you said you wanted to be vegetarian! What about that chicken last week?'

He looked at me as I were bonkers. 'Oh, I want to EAT meat; I just don't want to DEAL with it.'

I grew up in a household which raised animals for food, so I'm not squeamish about meat.

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Sharron Bassano's avatar

Funny story, Rebecca. A lot of people feel just the same as your husband. They love a good broiled lamb chop, but would not want to witness the slaughter of the little baby creature....

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Rebecca Holden's avatar

Yup. My school friends all thought it was terrible that our bottle-fed lambs would end up in the pot - yet would still enjoy their Sunday roast. Hey ho.

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Richbee's avatar

Canadian goose on our table in the fall. Dad the surgeon did the cut up routine. Better than turkey and plenty leftovers along with goose wing feathers for our hats. Yes grandmas and grandpa s are remembered and loved passing their table manners down the line.

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Sharron Bassano's avatar

Aww, a fine little memory, Richard. Thank you.

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T. D. Wolf's avatar

My mom used to tell me that’s how they killed chickens on the farm where she grew up in Puerto Rico. I always thought she was kidding.

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Sharron Bassano's avatar

Not kidding. I remember grandma running to catch a fat hen and taking her to the chopping block with an axe. I watched and was revolted. And I will never forget the smell of boiling water on feathers. Ick! But when you are a kid and you are hungry, you ask no questions.

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Kenneth Mills's avatar

"Pipe down"! I haven't heard that one for a while...

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Sharron Bassano's avatar

As I was writing this, I could hear my grandmother's old idioms running through my head. She used to say, "And then the shit really hit the fan!" You remember that one? And "Don't that beat all!"

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T. D. Wolf's avatar

Makes you wonder, has shit ever, in the history of mankind, ever hit a fan? And what were the circumstances of that occurrence?

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Sharron Bassano's avatar

Oh, good, John, now I have to have THAT image in my head all day.... eeuw!

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Kenneth Mills's avatar

Rich catalogue of sayings, that generation

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James Ron's avatar

Ha! Take that, Goose! - "he was running straight at her like some kind of Anserine missile." I've fended off such an attack, and on both occasions I missed my attempt at grasping him by the neck. Not running away, and well placed kicks, helps to stop the charge. I bet Easter dinner tasted good.

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Sharron Bassano's avatar

I thought my ...um... older readers would have similar memories! And younger one's might find these stories of interest, too, as ancient history.

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Sue Cauhape's avatar

Feisty old broad. WOW! Then again, you had to be back then and back in those mountain communities. it was like the Ozarks. I can also relate to her goose adventure. While volunteering at the American Wildlife Rescue Service in Scotts Valley years ago, I had a similar relationship with a huge white goose. I would pick him up by his crooked neck and fling him across the yard, then run out of that pen before he could get back to me. Never tried to kill him, though. He wasn't my bird to kill. And that pesky little banty-rooster was a pain in the ... ankles too. I'd drop a bucket over him to keep him out of my way while I filled food and water bowls for the rest of the flock. Them's were the days, Sharron. Thank for this memory.

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Sharron Bassano's avatar

Fine stories! Thanks, Sue. I would like to read some more of these memories in Ring Around the Basin!

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Sue Cauhape's avatar

I'll see what I can do. Reading substack posts really inspires lots of memories and stories for me. It's hard to keep up with it all. Thank you.

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Bryan Pirolli's avatar

Another goodie! Would love to see this character in future stories :) 🎉🪿🍗

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Sharron Bassano's avatar

Here is one short one about Ms. Hudson, for when you have time, Bryan. You will like it.

https://sharronbassano.substack.com/p/porter-gulch-1949?

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just mud by Ron's avatar

Great tale, Sharron! My mom lives with us and is a farm gal. From her stories, I can understand why things sometimes go next level!! (when poultry goes rogue)

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Sharron Bassano's avatar

No time for foolishness on a farm. There is either dinner or no dinner. Thanks Ron.

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Janice Walton's avatar

Hi, I am reminded of the day - at least 70 years ago - when the lady next door killed a chicken to fix for dinner - chopped his head off. It was a common household chore for her, but I didn't eat chicken for quite a while.

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Sharron Bassano's avatar

I think that once you have seen it, it does become hard to get that gory image gone!

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Rebecca Holden's avatar

Gosh, you've reminded me of my childhood, Sharron! We kept geese - they were mean and vicious and would grab hold of the fattest bit of my calves above the top of my welly boot and not let go!

Great story! The geese were our guard dogs, and our Christmas dinner.

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Sharron Bassano's avatar

What a great description of geese - both guard dogs and dinner! Perfect. Happy you could empathize with old Ms Hudson.

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GB's avatar

Love this.

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Sharron Bassano's avatar

Ha ha ha! Yeah. Me too. She was a tough old gal. I didn't appreciate her when I was a kid and I am sorry for it. But I sure do now and wish I could sit down and talk with her.

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