{"id":200,"date":"2013-06-01T18:22:47","date_gmt":"2013-06-01T22:22:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wallyword.com\/?p=200"},"modified":"2013-06-02T08:22:34","modified_gmt":"2013-06-02T12:22:34","slug":"hudsons-view-our-animal-farm-its-not-orwellian-but-still-revolutionary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wallyword.com\/?p=200","title":{"rendered":"Hudson\u2019s View; Our Animal Farm…it\u2019s not Orwellian, but the revolution is here"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Hud\"<\/a>\"woodchuck<\/a>\"woodchuck\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Sorry, it\u2019s been awhile since I\u2019ve posted.\u00a0 I get started on something and my claws don\u2019t work really well on the keyboard. Actually waiting for a voice-activated technology to help me, but afraid all my posts will just end up saying Woof, Woof.<\/p>\n

My column is called Hudson\u2019s View<\/span><\/strong>, and I aside from my naturally cynical nature, the fact is I\u2019ve really only got two views \u2013 the front yard and the backyard.\u00a0 And to be clear, I support both views wholeheartedly!<\/p>\n

This post is about the growing animal farm in the backyard.\u00a0 First of all, there isn\u2019t that much space there and a small barn takes up the back corner; so extra \u201cresidents\u201d are very noticeable.\u00a0 It\u2019s teeming with animal life. Deer routinely march through there despite my barking \u201cget off the lawn,\u201d although, to be fair, that probably sounds more like woof, woof.\u00a0 In addition, an aggressive Robin stands in the yard gathering stuff everyday, unflappable (ha, ha get it?); acting like it owns the place. There is also a cardinal who lands there occasionally, and Wally\u2019s convinced it\u2019s his late father stopping by to say hello as the cardinal was his dad\u2019s favorite bird.\u00a0 Right. Stay off the martini\u2019s Wally.<\/p>\n

However, the most interesting of the visitors has actually now become a permanent resident under the barn as evidenced by the large hole next to it.\u00a0 That visitor would be a woodchuck or groundhog.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s really a message about the economy if this poor groundhog has to live under a barn. I mean, get a meaningful job already. Punxsutawney Phil<\/a><\/strong> is working; sure, its only one day a year\u2026but at least he\u2019s pulling down a paychuck.\u00a0 Yuk, yuk.<\/p>\n

Anyway, our boarder \u201cWoody,\u201d as Wally named him with glaring unoriginality<\/strong><\/em>, was the sole proprietor of the back yard for about a year. He\u2019d come and go randomly, I might try to chase him occasionally, but he\u2019d have none of that – running into the woods or behind the barn. I then noticed one day that there was another woodchuck hanging in the yard with him, and just assumed it was his significant other\u2026and so we decided to call her – Woodina. Equally lame name<\/i><\/b>.<\/p>\n

How do we know she is female?<\/p>\n

Well, pretty simple. When the snow finally cleared away this spring, Woody, Woodina and three little woodchucks rambled out from under the barn.\u00a0 It\u2019s a mob scene, but these guys aren\u2019t revolting (my nod to Animal Farm<\/a><\/strong>), they\u2019re actually pretty cute; scurrying around the backyard munching on grass and I\u2019m sure trying to avoid some of the stuff I leave lying around the yard. \u00a0They come out at the same times of the day to dine, often\u00a0chasing that aggressive robin across the lawn. \u00a0When the family drives in the driveway, the crowd all hot-foot\u2019s it back under the barn, multiple noses poking out to see when the commotion clears.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve never gotten close to these guys at all, but it wasn\u2019t for a lack of trying. Wally generally keeps me on a leash, so when I hit the yard and it was only Woody and Woodina\u2026they were gone in a flash.\u00a0 It\u2019s a bit different however with their kids; they don\u2019t move as quickly, not really understanding, or probably not paying attention in woodchuck school\u2026yeah, we got a lot of not paying attention in school going on in this house as well!<\/p>\n

Anyway, one day last week, Wally takes me out on the leash and we see one of the parent woodchucks make a bee-line to the barn. As we enter the backyard, we see that one of the woodchuckettes (let\u2019s call him Chuck Woodery, ya know, like the game show host<\/a><\/strong>), didn\u2019t notice and we were between it and the barn. \u00a0Chuck, sensing us there, scrunched down as low in the grass as he could probably with the thought that we wouldn\u2019t see him.\u00a0 We saw him. Wally let me get a little bit closer, but have to admit I was a bit afraid\u2026all the while, Chuck Woodery just flattened himself further really believing he looked like part of the lawn.<\/p>\n

I decided not to bother him and went on about my business.\u00a0 He never moved. Finally, I went back into the house, and I assume Chuck took off for home when we went inside.<\/p>\n

Happy to have those hogs around to make life interesting and to keep that snooty robin in his place! But, I know I\u2019m faster than all of them and Wally says he\u2019ll let me off the leash someday so I can chase them\u2026although, what would I do if I caught one? But in the end, it’s my job to make sure the backyard revolution doesn’t get out of hand. \u00a0So, I’m just content to keep Woody, Woodina, Chuck Woodery and the chuckettes on their toes, earning a \u201cgood job Hud\u201d with a pat on the head when back at the house!<\/p>\n

And THAT, pretty much makes my day\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sorry, it\u2019s been awhile since I\u2019ve posted.\u00a0 I get started on something and my claws don\u2019t work really well on the keyboard. Actually waiting for a voice-activated technology to help me, but afraid all my posts will just end up saying Woof, Woof. My column is called Hudson\u2019s View, and I aside from my naturally cynical nature, the fact is… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[7,23,28],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2Clfm-3e","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wallyword.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wallyword.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wallyword.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wallyword.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wallyword.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=200"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/wallyword.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":209,"href":"http:\/\/wallyword.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200\/revisions\/209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wallyword.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wallyword.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wallyword.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}