Broom Hilda by Russell Myers for August 14, 2023

Geese aren’t really good guard animals, as much as they are effective alarms. They make a lot of noise. Peacocks have been used much the same way. They are even louder than geese.

Now- let’s hope I will be able to forget about todays strip till I will go to sleep this evening sigh loudly!

probably doesn’t help when it’s taller than you like a DINOGOOSE!

We live in the wide open country of mid-south France and, indeed, for a while our neighbors had attack geese. Our daily walk takes us right past their house. I learned the hard way to carry a big stick. One got hold of my thigh, and it took a vicious uppercut to get him to let go. No blood but the bruise lasted a week.

Geese are not dogs, so the next time you take your walk always remember the best thing that should be next to a goose…. is a baked potato! You will then get your neighborhood back along with a free dinnner!

Broomie’s afraid of getting goosed…

Don’t tell her about Untitled Goose Game….

It’s true. We used to have geese on our farm and even the big dogs were afraid of them.

Years and years ago, we were having a family reunion on a farm and this one goose started chasing me. I would get away, but if the goose saw me it would start chasing me again.

We have tens of thousands of them during the fall migration in central Kansas – they destroy crop fields and pollute the water – yet they’re “protected” because they’re migratory – so we can only shoot them during hunting season. They have contaminated our city parks ponds and small lakes to the point that the water is now poisonous to everything – all the fish are dead, you can’t enter the water or let your dogs drink the water. They cover the sidewalks and driveways with “goose grease” and in general are a menace to the community… As some of you know, they are aggressive and will attack anyone who they perceive as a threat – and they can do some serious damage to a human. They are not the cute little critters as portrayed on TV.

Once a year, at the Summer Solstice, Canadians conduct an ancient ritual that transfers all of their hate and fears into the Canada geese.

They are vicious but to b admired from afar! HONK HONK!

I read that Ancient Rome had a special festival honoring geese for protecting Rome from an invasion.

I must taste roast goose before I die.

Our next door neighbor had a flock of 6 huge ones. If they knew you, no problem. If you were a stranger, it was best to remain in your car until some one came. Not only were they loud, but they would draw blood.

I’ve been whoop’d on by geese more times than I care to admit, but the best I ever saw was my (resident) gander walk’n his “family” across the driveway that runs across the top of my lake’s dam. My 16 year old niece “tried” to drive through there at the same time in her brand new (just off the lot birthday present) rag top Camero and made the mistake of “honk’n” her horn at them. That dude lit up in the middle of the hood flap’n and flog’n his wings.. claw’n the hood and windshield..peck’n the windshield.. raising all manor of cain. I was on the other end of the lake laugh’n so hard I couldn’t breath (my brother bought it, not me), just glad he didn’t tear (completely) through the top and get inside.. that would have meant me loosing a good goose.

Nerwin has a point.

I like to walk around the neighborhood which happens to have a golf course. Naturally, golf courses have water traps and is very popular with the Canadian Geese. When I walk past them, they move slightly away, keeping their eyes on me but, so far, I’ve never been attacked. I guess an old man is less threatening. What I hate about them is when they decide to cross the street, en masse, and hold up the traffic. Obviously, you can’t run them over them without running into trouble with the law and they refuse to fly to their intended destination.

Some of them nursery rhymes can be pretty scary. I mean look what happened the blind mice.

And when they fly, they get sucked into jet engines, and the plane crashes, killing all aboard,. Now I won’t be able to get to sleep, who needs naps anyway, nurse will be around soon…

Does Broomie have memories of the sacred geese of Juno that saved ancient Rome from the Gauls in 390 B.C. by warning Marcus Manlius Capitolinus? Geese are formidable guardians!