It's hunting season in New Hampshire. We have to be careful not to go walking in the woods and keep the dog inside. She doesn't like the sound of gunshots and hides under my desk when they go off. But, she wouldn't associate gun-shots with people carrying guns, so it's best to keep her inside.
Late afternoon yesterday, we heard shots and the dog, when she wasn't hiding under my desk, was intent on barking when she saw movement in the woods. About dark there was a knock at the back door and a hunter asking for permission to drive across the field to retrieve the doe he'd shot on university land and then tracked to ours. He'd dragged it about a hundred feet and found it heavy and wanted to drive down to get it with his truck.
The spouse demurred. We don't permit vehicles in the field when it's soft and wet and especially not when the grass hasn't been cut. He suggested to them that they could use a wheel-barrow and bring the doe out that way.
So, the hunters and the spouse and the dog trecked across the field and retrieved the deer. The dog was excited by the blood still trickling out of the animal's mouth, started to lick it up and then got hold of the tongue and bit down. The hunters were impressed by our half-wild mut. She followed the barrow across the field, accompanied the hunters with their flash-lights and had to be dragged back to the house as the hunters proceeded toward the road and their trucks. For the rest of the evening she begged to be let out at the back door. She doesn't understand that she needs to be on a leash when she's outside.
Meanwhile, it turns out, the grandson in Florida was taking a bath, stomping around in the water as usual, slipped and fell and bit his tongue by accident. There was a lot of blood. His dad couldn't catch the tongue to stop the bleeding; couldn't get him to accept some ice to stop it either; couldn't get him to calm down. That required the return of mom and then the tongue stopped bleeding on its own, as tongues usually do.
Two bloody tongues.
Posted by Hannah at November 12, 2005 11:46 AM