Gifts From the Road

One of us here (Elly May) is really into taxidermy. Yes, some people love to skin dead animals and stuff them in their free time. Road kill takes on a whole new persona to such persons. What a bit of luck!! There was that time with the skunk...... that was a bit of a mistake. You see, skunk must (and everyone else may already know this but we didn't at the time) does NOT go away in the freezer. You just end up with a bunch of skunky chickens (or whatever else you have in there... not a good thing) . ANYway, after that whole fiasco and the aftermath, (ever try burying a frozen skunk in a whole too small to fit it? You have to stomp on it) skunks were totally off the list of potential collection projects. Coons however are a totally different matter.
Our brother Buck came home at a rather late (or early... technically it was morning) hour a few weeks ago and came and dragged Elly May out of bed for a special roadkill surprise . There was a freshly hit (it wasn't Buck!!) coon out there , sadly surrounded by eight of its family, mourning its departure. She debated the merits of collecting it fresh in the wee hours of the morning or just waiting until daylight (it weren't a goin ' anywhere...) . But the adventure of it all was too much to pass up so she hauled her pajama clad carcas out there and scooped it up in a trash bag and headed for her freezer. Yes, she has her own freezer for road kill. Doesn't everyone? Her birthday song was (to the tune of My Fair Lady's "Wouldn't it be Lovely" ) "All I want is a Frigidaire, 15 feet of the cubic square... with one enoooourmous bear Oh WOULDN"T it be loverly???" . Yeah, well, it is only 8 cubic feet. so there. No bear in there. Anyway, I'm so glad she has her own freezer because before she was using space in mine and I wasn't too keen on having the fish and random squirrel hanging out with my grass-fed short ribs and chuck roast.
Okay, heading to the freezer, sending Buck up front to catch all the spider webs (isn't summer lovely? you haven't lived until you've walked smack dab into an orb weaver web in the middle of the night with the dear orb weaver right in the middle.. don't scream, you'll wake the neighbors)
Buck is nice like that. Either that or he wasn't thinking. Anyway, coon is in the freezer awaiting some spare time in Elly May's busy schedule.
Her most recent project was a choker out of a rattler skin. It was donated by a friend who is generous that way. People comment on it and seem to like it until they find out what it is. Then they either think it is really cool or they step back in horror like it still had a head and rattle on and was going to stike right then and there. People are funny about snakes that way.
And before I get hate mail about how horrible and cruel we are, let me remind everyone we are only recycling what would go to waste. They did not die in vain. Besides, ever see what a coon can do to a chicken?