by Jan Fielden
The Red Oak Ranch had lots of excitement the other night. The Beagles, MO and Tasha were barking furiously and would not quit. The Colonel turned the light on outside and told them to be quiet…they are afraid of the dark! But, his admonition did nothing; they kept barking. So, he finally went outside and lo! and Behold! There was a possum on the back patio up against the house. MO and Tasha are both hunters, but Tasha is more of a tracker than actual hunter. MO is all out a hunter. If he finds something, no matter what it is he kills it. We don’t always want him to, but it is in the DNA of some Beagles.
MO had not yet moved in on the possum. He was standing in front of it a way back and barking. Suddenly he moved in on the possum and The Colonel had to give up his plan to shoot for fear of hitting MO. The possum then made its move to run for freedom and away from this dog that was barking his head off! MO gave chase, caught the possum, threw him up in the air, caught him on his way back down and shook the living daylights out of him. He evidently broke the possum’s neck. MO backed off and looked at The Colonel as if to say, that’s for you. The Colonel got a shovel and threw the possum over the back yard fence. It was 2:00 a.m.
I, of course, slept through all the excitement even though The Colonel tried to wake me. The next morning, I noticed the Beagles running over to the fence and up flew the biggest vulture I have ever seen. The Colonel immediately went outside and took the possum to the woods. Anytime of the day or night there will be things going on at the Red Oak Ranch!
