But only behind my back.

We’ve been hearing a lot of commotion on the roads lately. Some of it is expected. It’s harvest time and the renter’s corn is being done, so they’re big equipment and trucks are going by. Other farmers are bringing in their hay bales, or just plant going back and forth between home and fields.

On the trail cams, however, I’m also seeing a lot of regular vehicle traffic doing strange things. We’ve also been hearing lots of voices and shouting. The gate cam is set to record stills and video, so I’m seeing vehicles drive slowly, then reversing, then going forward again, etc. During some night time shots, a vehicle driving by triggered the camera and, in the background, I could see people walking around my brother’s field (the younger of my brothers) with flashlights. If I hadn’t also seen my brother’s wife in some of the images, I would have been more concerned.

It does mean I’ve got a lot of files to go through when I switch out the memory cards!

Late this morning, I was having an early lunch before heading outside to get some work done when I got a phone call from my mother. She was struggling, physically, today and wanted to know if I could come over and help her with some house work that was getting too much for her.

So of course, my plans changed.

As I was getting ready to head out, I walked over to open the gate before opening the garage, so I would only have to get out of the car once, to close the gate behind me.

Which is when I saw a guy set up in my brother’s driveway into his field, across from ours. That driveway is rarely used, so it’s quite overgrown. The guy was in one of those folding chairs with a canopy, half hidden in the tall grass, with stuff that looked like blankets on the ground beside him, and a gorgeous Great Pyrenees at his side.

As soon as the dog saw me reach the gate, it got up, all excited to see another human, and started barking.

This did not go over well with the guy, who started trying to shush the dog.

I started to call out and ask if everything was all right, but he started trying to shush both me and the dog at the same time, and asked me to back away. Then he saw something down the road and started talking into this phone (I’m amazed he had enough signal to use it!), saying things like “I see him! He’s right there!” and telling someone they should be able to “see him” right at that moment. The someone turned out to be his dad, and I was not impressed when he started swearing at his dad for not seeing what I figured out was another dog, and telling his dad he needed to come get the dog because someone (me) had come out, the dog started barking, and the other dog got scared away.

While that was going on, I opened the gate as quietly as I could. I even tried to open the garage door as quietly as possible, and that thing gives off metallic screams, squeals and squeaks like nobody’s business!

Then, of course, I had to drive out and close the gate, which I tried to do quickly, so as not to scare off this other dog, if at all possible. Thankfully, I needed to go the opposite direction from where he’d seen his dog.

When I stopped at the intersection, I saw a new sign not far from our own, so I took a picture.

I removed the phone number, of course.

The next time I stopped, before getting on the highway, I sent the photo to the family and let them know what was going on, then continued on to my mother’s.

When I got there, I checked my messages.

My family was not sympathetic to the guy with the lost dog.

It seems there was a lot of shouting after I left, loud enough for my daughter to hear me being referred to as a “stupid fat f*****g b****”. Apparently for using my own driveway and scaring off an already scared dog.

I wonder what he thought about the big harvest trucks, trailers and combines that had to go down that road to the fields the dog was hiding in!

The shouting they heard was enough for my daughter to warn me to be careful when I got home, and for my husband – my broken husband! – told me to let him know I was on the way, so he could meet me at the gate.

Things apparently calmed down by the time I was done at my mother’s. The guy was no longer set up across from our gate, and they weren’t hearing shouting anymore.

As I turned the corner to get home, though, I did see a truck parked on the side of the road, not far from our driveway. As I drove past it, I could see an older gentleman in the driver’s seat, but there were too many reflections on the glass to see if someone was with him. About a quarter mile down the road, though, I could see the canopy on the folding chair set up.

After I opened the gate and started back to the car, though, guess who came out of the truck?

Yup. It was the same guy, coming over to talk to me.

He was quite polite to my face!

Turns out his 8 month old Great Pyreneese that he recently acquired broke out of their house, along with the other one I’d seen earlier. That one, they caught quick enough, but the other was apparently quite happy to be running around outside, and not wanting anyone to come close. They’ve seen him eat the food they left out for him, but still wouldn’t let them come close, disappearing into the corn field, instead.

He mentioned my cameras and asked about them. I let him know that the motion sensors are set on the gate and the sign, so while I can see things on the road, it’s limited. He asked if he could set up cameras, indicating the easement between our fence and the road, and I told him to go right ahead; that areas is public land, anyhow. I did say he could use a fence post or something, if he wanted to.

He also mentioned where he lived, should we happen to see the dog. Turns out he’s right in the middle of our little hamlet, a littler more than 3 miles away. Which makes me wonder about his dog being out here!

Since they were all over the place, looking for the dog, I mentioned we had 3 lost cats and described them. So far, though, he’s only seen a black and white one – likely Adam – crossing the road. Unfortunately, their being all over the place looking for the dog, they are likely scaring the missing cats away completely.

Turns out he’s a cat person, as well as a dog person. He asked me if I knew someone, who turned out to be the guy that found Potato Beetle, last winter! It turns out they are great friends, so I asked him to extend my greetings, and let him know that Potato Beetle is now an indoor cat. 😁

So it was quite a friendly exchange we had.

Not bad, considering I’m such a stupid, fat f*****g b****.

No, I’m not angry or anything like that. More amused than anything else!

The Re-Farmer