Growing up Huffman

I have been encouraged by a few people to do some writing. I have all these funny little stories in my head, things from growing up that I am starting to write down for my kids. I thought it would be fun, especially for the Huffmans to hear them (and not to mention the fact checking). So here it is, the first installment of Growing up Huffman:)


The Badger

My dad thought that as long as we were educated in the risks of the area that we were safe enough in our 180 acre paradise. In our little patch of heaven we had many types of snakes, coyotes, rabbits, badgers, deer, antelope, and you never knew what you might encounter on one of your adventures.
There were holes of every size in the ground. Our days took us around too many to count. Some we called ankle breakers- those were the rabbit holes. The smaller ones were snake holes, and the ones you never under any circumstances messed with were the larger ones- the badger holes. When we played in the field or wandered the property, we never encountered a badger.
One day when we were playing in the yard my mom quickly gathered us up and shut us in the house. We watched with great anticipation out of the sliding glass doors as my dad climbed onto the roof of the house next door with the garden hose. She explained that he had seen a badger go into a hole just behind that house, and he was going to flush him out. We had never seen a badger before and the idea of this mysterious, vicious animal was exciting! The water poured from the hose, and the anticipation and danger grew. Finally, a very perturbed animal, roughly the size of a big cat emerged from the hole. His head shot back and forth as he searched for the perpetrator, never imagining that he was cowering on the roof of the house just behind him. His little claws flashed in the morning light, and then he was gone. It was a bit anti-climactic considering everything we had heard about them, but a new experience just the same.