This Week at Iten's Acres: The Year of the Rodent August 24, 2015

The Chinese have it all wrong. (Maybe that's why their economy is imploding?) This is The Year of the Rodent. Sigh. The cause behind such a horrible epithet is simple and sad: my Outlaw Gang of Bonnie and Gus is now completely defunct. Bonnie--beautiful, brilliant, brown-eyed Bonnie--was lost awhile ago to a crazy country driver. (I spent all summer expecting her to suddenly appear. But, no.) And this summer my old country mutt--and fellow walker--Gus has "disappeared." I don't know what happened to the old boy, but I haven't seen him or heard him barking at everything that moved in the night for quite some time. One of the highlights of my early days at The Acres was taking my trek with the Outlaw Gang. They would daily meet me at the mail box and join me for my stroll from the front to the back The Acres. They, too, were in to slow. Bonnie would magically disappear when we reached the back of The Acres, but she would be waiting for Gus and me when we got back to the cave. (She must have known Scotty.) Alas, though, now they are both gone.
And that sadness has produced The Year of the Rodent. Rabbits by the zillions have been around all summer. Little red squirrels everywhere; nasty little chipmunks as well. I have even had groundhogs, racoon, and possum making their rodentness at home on my patio. And, of course, the muskrat has moved into the pond. None of that would be happening if my Outlaw Gang was still around. Hunters were they. And good ones. Now, the pesky varmints have had the run of the place. I was thinking I would have to break down and take my gun into the shop to get it fixed. Or maybe trade it in for a machine gun. But . . . but . . . there has been a new development--in the last week or two there has been a sudden decrease in the hated rodent population. (Yes, I said "hated." Live with it.) I was mystified (but rejoicing). And then yesterday, the truth was uncovered. Serendipity! There on my patio in his brilliant redness was Bre'r Fox! Yes! Fortunately, it seems Bre'r Rabbit is not as clever as he used to be in Joel Chandler Harris' days. It seems he--and some of his rodent friends--has been served for dinner. Heh, heh. I know. I know. He can never take the place of The Outlaw Gang as a walking companion, but . . . If I can just get him to embrace muskrat love . . . I would be more than willing, dare I say, even excited about the possibility of changing the name of the year to The Year of the Fox. Indeed, red may become my new favorite color. (And if the Chinese get desperate, I'll loan them the name--for a price, of course. They should embrace the color red, don't you think?) Anyway, "Hail!" to my new favorite friend, Reynard. May his tribe increase!