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VISIT OUR LINK PARTNERS! WILLIAMSON COUNTY (OFFICIAL SITE) CITY OF FRANKLIN (OFFICIAL SITE) |
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Beware the Bushhog My husband truly loves me. I know this because in late February of 1995 he left everything and everyone he knew behind to follow me back to my hometown. He drove a rented Ryder truck through snow, sleet, rain and fog over 1000 miles to a strange and mysterious place called Leipers Fork. My husband is originally from SpringfieldMassachusetts, and we met in Boston. Not only is my man a Yankee, he is also a city boy. Believe me when I tell you folks – BostonMA and Leipers Fork TN may as well be on two separate planets. They are definitely two different worlds. My husband has encountered many new things since moving here. Some things, such as southern fried chicken, he has enjoyed. Other things, such as chiggers and poison ivy, he has not. The first time he was asked, “Can you tell me where the hose pipe is?” He had no idea. He has also learned that words that contained a single syllable in Boston often contain two or three syllables here. Many words were completely unintelligible to him in their southern form, such as catfish, pronounced “kay-at-fish”, or tomato, pronounced “do-may-ta”. He has also learned to cook green vegetables until they aren’t green and to cover them thoroughly with condensed soup and/or cheese. A month or two after our arrival, we attended a property auction on Pinewood Rd. The auctioneer was describing the location of each of the stakes marking the four corners of the lot. The fourth stake, he said, had been, “chewed up by a bushhog.” “Damn”, he thought. “These things must be something! Ann never mentioned that there were large animals living in the woods around here.” He meant to ask me about that, but then he forgot A few days later, he was driving home from work we he saw a sign on the road, “WARNING – BUSHHOG AHEAD.” As he rounded the bend, he saw a crew of men hacking away furiously at the underbrush. “Wow! They are serious about getting this thing!”, he thought to himself. It appeared that bushhogs are something to be taken quite seriously. These guys were going after it with a vengeance. Then it came time to mow the lawn at the house we were renting. We had lived in an apartment inMassachusetts, so we didn’t have a mower. Therefore, my husband asked my Mother if we could borrow her lawnmower. “You don’t need a mower”, she said. “We have a bushhog”. “That’s great”, he said, “But what should I do”? “Come over here, and get the bushhog” she said. “Will it fit in the back of my car?” he asked. She laughed and said, “I’ll have cousin Martin bring it up for you.” Dear husband was puzzled, but he knew better than to question the Mother-in-Law further, so he drove to work. That night, he pulled into the driveway, and as his headlights swept across the lawn, he was astonished to see that the entire lawn was completely trimmed. This bushhog was a wondrous creature indeed! When it again came time to mow the lawn, my beloved was ready to see this bushhog for himself. He called my Mother and asked, “How can I get that bushhog up to our house?” “You can drive it up the hill.”, said she. At this point, my husband envisioned himself flogging a large beast up the hill. “I’m not sure I feel comfortable doing that.” he said. “Don’t worry.”, she said. “I’ll have cousin Martin bring it up there for you.” So of course, Martin drove the thing up the hill and went ahead and cut the lawn. That night, as the headlights once again revealed the perfectly shorn lawn, my husband fully expected to find the creature tethered to a tree, chewing its cud. The next morning, my husband went to visit my Mother. He really wanted to see the bushhog for himself. “It’s in the barn.”, she said. There was no sign of a large animal in the barn – just lots of farm machinery and implements. He climbed on top of a piece of equipment to get a better view and to prevent the bushhog from snapping at his ankles with its sharp teeth and powerful jaws. He looked everywhere and saw no sign of this bushhog animal or any kind of hog whatsoever. Mom walked into the barn to check on him, and he said, “Pam, I can’t find that bushhog anywhere!” “You are standing on it.”, she said. And that, my friends, is how my husband met his first bushhog. |