Would grow up into this—

The Sad History of Mr. Peepers’ Childhood. We had to remove the just-hatched Mr. Peepers from his family because the other geese were mean to the cute fuzzy yellow gosling and the hens were pecking him. We raised him in a posh brooder (an extension of The Chicken Palace) in the kitchen. Snuggled him in our laps in tea towels while we watched TV. Took him swimming in the master bathtub. Treated him like family. When Dennis took two weeks off from work to build the deck, Mr. Peepers snoozed in the sawdust on the workshop floor and doggedly followed Dennis back and forth and back and forth on his floppy webbed feet for fourteen long days while Dennis hauled the heavy boards from workshop to house.

Mr. Peepers Today. To gather the eggs in The Chicken Palace these days, you first have to get through Mr. Peepers. This requires wearing boots and jeans. Heavy insulated coveralls are recommended. Sometimes when the horses try to eat their hay, he nips their noses. Just because he can.

Analysis. When we ask ourselves what happened to our sweet gray goose—Why is he so mean? —we have no good answers. Dennis still talks about watching every single step he took during that 14-day deck project so he wouldn’t squash the little gosling at his heels. He still recalls, with an amount of tenderness appropriate for a rough and tough cowboy guy, how Mr. Peepers imprinted on him.

The Current Threat. Sometimes in the mornings, Mr. Peepers and the other geese gather in a circle around our ancient pony, Thor, while he munch munch munches his Purina Equine Senior. The geese curl up like five plump feathered teapots around the old pony’s hooves, pretending to nap. But after what happened over at Rurality recently—

I’m beginning to get worried.

Watch out.

Flickr photos: Paul Voskamp; fubuki ; fubuki ; fubuki