Some near death experiences

I was raised on a farm.  We were always surrounded by  chickens, pigs, sheep, goats, cows, rabbits, cats and dogs.  These various animals were kept in pens, or corrals or in the case of the chickens in a special chicken house.  Many times a cat or dog actually resided in our home.

When I was about three years old I learned that not all animals are cute and cuddly.  I had recently learned how to open the latch on the gate leading into the farmyard.  The way was now open for me to personally learn about these various animals.

A large rooster saw me coming and must have felt that since I was so small I could be challenged.  And challenged I was. The rooster came running and jumped up and hit me squarely in the chest.  He knocked me flat on my back.  Then that bugger hopped on my chest and proceeded to try to peck out my eyes.  I was terrified!

In the best three-year fashion, I started to scream at the top of my lungs and flail with my arms and kick with my legs.  I eventually rolled over and the Rooster strutted off knowing that he had successfully defended his kingdom.

We had a fenced back lawn at the rear of our house.  My father would occasionally bring home large ram's (a male sheep, also called bucks)  from his sheep herd. These would be placed in the fenced back lawn.  One day I noticed a ram and decided to investigate.  Out the door I went and immediately the buck started to back up.  If you have watched nature shows on TV about mountain sheep, you will remember that the rams back up just before they run and butt each other in the head with their huge curved  horns.

I recognized that the buck's intentions were not exactly friendly, so I bent over to pick up some kind of weapon to defend myself.  The weapon was a little stick about four inches long.

Just at that moment my mother looked out the window and saw the situation and let out a scream.  Out the door she flew and grabbed me just as the buck started his charge.  Thankfully the buck, noticing that there were now two enemies and one was a lot bigger than the original, stopped his charge.  I think that if that buck had hit me I would still be flying through the air.  Thank goodness for mothers.