Animal!

I am a bit of a country girl at heart, well fully, and have prided myself on my knowledge of the countryside. Some little known facts, even to some of my closest friends, are:

I have stock judged

I have shown cattle at the Kent County Show; involves months of planning and practise with your cow... seriously, its hard work, you and the cow have to learn how to stand and walk, I came 5th and highly commended, in case your interested. The cow came last!

I was on a Staffordshire team which came 5th in the National Finals of the Same-Lamborghini Agricultural Quiz.

I was a Young Farmer for 8 years in 4 different Counties (like 4H only you're older and drunk)

I have killed a rabbit with myxomatosis (eyes closed; mine, the rabbit was already blind!)

I attended Hunt Balls, despite the fact I hate fox hunting, but in my defence alcohol was in the offing and serious that's hard to turn down, I am but flesh and blood.

I was guest for 5 weeks of the Kenyan Agriculture Ministry and had an official dinner with President Moi... okay not a nice man but when will I ever meet a President again, let alone eat with one.

I have dipped sheep, milked cows and eaten goat, mutton and a cow I had previously been acquainted with.

I have been pooed on, wee'ed on and stamped on by the best of British and Kenyan Animals and I thought I was hard...

It seems to me that moving to a place with a disease named after it probably wasn't the best move however Lyme's disease seems like a walk in the park compared to the Brown Recluse Spider! I don't even know what one looks like, oh I've googled them, they cannot survive the winter here and only a few cases of bites in CT due to shipment!! what are they posting themselves? only the Northern Black Widow to worry about then? phew! there's a relief!

Termites and wasps will eat your house... notice, I am still in the insect world!

Connecticut has apparently 14 snakes and I have seen one of them already, 38 yrs in the UK never saw a snake in the wild... but again don't worry, only 2 are poisonous, the Timber Rattle Snake and the Copperhead, and a useful web site ct.gov states they only bite if you annoy them! cue Craig Ferguson joke, only that was wasps (and stinging) !

Moving up you have your chipmunk, which eat your house, Bobcat reclusive and dying out and Possums, which strictly speaking are not dangerous but try telling my husband that after he trod on one in the dark and screamed like a girl after it lifted him off the ground... (they can be quite big, or that's his excuse)

Skunks... I have been Skunked when the car in front of me nearly hit one and it sprayed as I passed YUK! and I now understand Pepe La Pew, as it looked and moved like a Cat from a distance, smell told me otherwise!

You have your Coyote, and I saw one in my first week here when up at dawn with jet lag.

Then you have your Moose and Deer with suicidal tendencies, they like to throw themselves in front of cars, which can lead to fatality of the driver and themselves, I assume.

Finally the Black Bear which, apparently, rarely attacks!

Oh and rabies, just in case I wasn't scared enough!

So, on that note I am looking into buying a concrete house, a Hummer, wellington boots, tight trousers (pants, why do I grin when I write that?) and not accepting mail from areas where the Brown Recluse lives... not that blooming reclusive obviously!