"THE WONDER OF A BABY SKUNK"

PHOTO BY MIL, 5-31-'68

There was once a white-haired retired

Baptist preacher living on maybe thirty acres

a few miles southwest of Los Lunas, New 

Mexico.

He and his wife were kind of "old-timey" as 

the saying went....they were senior folks and 

I coulda been their son, age-wise. He wore

faded-out overalls most of the time, and his 

wife, a lovable little lady, was partial to calico

dresses and wore an old-fashioned bonnet,

especially when hoeing their gardens in the

hot NM sun.

I'd stop by and visit them when in the area

and we'd do a little target practice on his back 

acre, or sit in the shade of a cottonwood

for a spell and he'd reminisce about his old 

preachin' days...

Sometimes he ask me to sing "Amazing Grace,"

or "Shall We Gather At The River?"

Here is the fascinating thing: he had the 

most interesting little "farm." He must've had

a small tractor, though I never saw it.  There

were fruit trees and maybe a few acres of 

alfafa---memory says he had several gardens,

a grass pasture with a few cows grazing, and

pheasants galore running free.

He liked to keep stuff, like cars and mechanical

things and had a junk heap over a little knoll,

kind of out of sight. ("You never know when you

might want an old part and save yourself a trip to

the hardware store.")

The thing that perhaps was the most interesting

about his whole place, besides their cozy little

farm cottage, was the menagerie.

You see, not only did he like to grow plants, but

 he raised animals. I don't know where he got 'em all, 

maybe bought some of them, but he had a lot of

critters growing and I mean---not just chickens

and pigs and cows...but rabbits in cages...and tame

geese and quail running around loose.

Since I led the music for a while in the little 

church down there, I dropped by from time

to time and took my youngest son Bri. He 

liked to head out with me in my old green

1960 Chevrolet pickup....when I had a day off.

One spring day when my boy was about 

four-and-a-half years old, he and I stopped 

by "The Preacher's Place" as I called it,  to say

hello.

My little son was fascinated by the myriad

of interesting stuff around that place....

especially the skunks . I don't know if the 

adult skunks had had corrective surgery or

what---I mostly steered clear of their 

domicile.

But Preacher had some skunk babies, whose 

plumbing was yet to develop and he said

to my boy: "How would you like to hold a 

baby skunk in your hand?"

Kids are not picky and they relate to other small

creatures, and my boy said: "WOW...SURE!"

The photo tells the rest.

++++++++++++++

MILS PLACE

by Mil

27 SEPTEMBER 201

(B.E. found this old photo in the garage

yesterday, while rummaging. I had just

taken up photography that spring of '68 

and processed the 8X10 in my darkroom.)