Many times when the “every other week” comes along, I scratch my head and wonder what am I going to write about.
Most of the time something happens that is out of the ordinary, and I tell the story. That is the case this week.
Saturday I was mowing along the road south of our house, and as I got closer to the bridge I could see a couple vultures standing in the middle of the road. I didn’t think too much about it because I often see vultures scavenging dead animals on the road or along the road that have been hit by vehicles. When I got closer to the bridge over the creek the two flew and joined about twenty that were sitting on the bridge railing.
In my farm mind, I thought, “Oh, boy, this isn’t good. I hope it’s not a dead cow or calf lying in the creek.” It wasn’t!
Someone had dumped about 30 dead fish into the creek from the bridge!
I called grandson Erik and asked him if he would call the sheriff’s office to report it. About three weeks ago there was a deputy’s truck, and I think two cars that could have been conservation officers. I’m not sure, but the story I heard was that someone was illegally setting fish traps in local creeks. I had to laugh because there hasn’t been fish in our area of Troublesome for years...most of the time, it is too shallow.
Anyway, I called my neighbor and asked if he would go down and serve as a witness. I called Julie and she said she would call the conservation officer in Fulton County because she knew him. Because it was Saturday, we couldn’t reach McDonough County. Then, my neighbor called me and said, “If I had filleted those fish like that person did and left so much meat, my Dad would probably have kicked my rear!”
So, at least I realized the fish would be a meal for the vultures and the coons, but they would have to go into the running water to retrieve them.
Later in the afternoon a sheriff’s deputy stopped at the bridge, and I got to talk to him. He said what everyone was saying: why didn’t that person take the dead fish to a woods for the abundant raccoons we have and leave them instead of dumping them into a creek!”
On the farm, the traders whacked the grain prices this week. Beans were down about 39 cents and corn was down about 12. A lot of times it’s because of taking profits on long positions, or a weather scare, or changes in the weather in foreign countries. As of today (Wednesday morning) they have come back some.
I was so surprised to see some soybeans have survived where water stood from the heavy rains we had earlier. The corn is a different matter as you can look at fields that have spots where standing water has caused loss of fertilizer, and turned yellow or stunted or caused it to die. There are also fields I can see from the road where the deer or the raccoons have literally destroyed a patch by pulling it to the ground.
So, that’s it for this week. Please don’t dump stuff in the creek! Sounds like a country song that I could write.
P.S. Cattle prices also went way down after an announcement that imports from Mexico could/would resume in August. Because of the screwworm outbreak in Mexico they have been banned. Scary.
Sharon Chenoweth is a resident and farmer of McDonough County. Her column focuses on rural life and will be featured every other week in the Community News Brief Friday Edition.
