Putting the 'Barnyard' in Our Yard

Almost everywhere I remember living, my family and I have had…interesting encounters with animals deciding our yard and the surrounding ones are prime real estate.

When I was very little, we lived at my paternal grandmother’s homeplace. It attracted stray dogs and stray cats, as well as snakes that slithered on the carport and coiled beneath bushes (which the dogs and cats then circled to investigate), and, one summer, hordes of wasps that sipped water from my rectangular, inflatable pool.

We eventually left the homeplace and the country for a few years in the city, but we’ve lived outside of the city limits again for over half of my life now. And goodness, does our yard attract some of the funniest interlopers.

Chickens

Somehow, our yard beckons chickens with open wings. Fred the rooster, who I’ve mentioned in a few posts, was not the first chicken to take up with us, though he did stay for the longest. We had a hen, who was not our hen, come to nest in our backyard. She’d pick spots out in the tall clumps of thick grass that grew next to the house and just do her thing.

Fred actually defended our yard as his own, singular territory when a rival copycat (a nearly identical replica of Fred if just a little smaller) decided to see if he could parse out his own little bit of what is apparently livestock paradise. This other rooster, Ed (so named by my dad), could be alone in the front yard, when, from around the corner of the house, Fred would put his waddling chicken-run into high gear and zoom toward Ed.

Ed had to find a different yard to occupy.

Two (2) Pigs

We’ve also had a couple of pigs stake out the front yard. One time happened while I was away from the house, probably at college, but the large pig offended my maternal grandmother by rooting up our flower garden. Mawmaw, whose parents raised pigs when she was younger, took action. Wielding a broom, she attempted to shoo the pig away from our yard.

It didn’t budge. It was not intimidated...

It left the yard when called by our neighbors.

The second pig visited us last year in 2022, where he decided to stick around for a couple of days. He was a cute potbellied pig, and he was very goal-oriented.

Water needed for a wallow? Knock over the multi-gallon bucket full of water (and the remaining tadpoles from a pool cleaning) at our gazebo.

Need to reach the ferns on the other side of the lattice-work while under our front porch? Just push the lattice to the side.

Really need that wallow? Be so cute so that the humans give you a private shower with cool water from the hose. (He enjoyed that shower so much. Once the ground was damp enough, he did indeed try to make a wallow.)

He eventually returned home, apparently to a bunch of little piglets.

One (1) Cow

On the homeplace, my grandfather raised cattle. My dad has told me so many stories about the cows: an uncalled-for stampede, the cattle nearly draining the well during a summer drought, a calf being born on a snowy, cold day and bellowing his unmitigated woe to the rest of the world.

While my dad’s dad once raised cattle at the homeplace, we have never been part of the bovine industry at our current home.

However, there are at least three nearby houses that do have pastures full of cows.

One day, a black cow strolled through our yard. It was but a brief visitor.

Two (2) Horses

These guys stayed longer.

They sidled up into our yard, grazed peacefully by themselves. Our yard was their yard, apparently. And who were we but welcoming hosts? My dad and I went out and fed them slices of fallen pears from the pear tree.

They graciously responded to our hospitality by being mild-mannered and not handing out any irritable kicks or nibbles.

Over the years, my family and I have (usually) enjoyed these impromptu visits and visitors.

Theres a goat who lives down the road. Who knows? He may be the next one to discover the yard.