Signs of the Time
Over a year ago, one of the locals (big brother of this guy) destroyed the “Horse Crossing” sign on the gravel road near us. He’d been using his front-end loader to clear his property and apparently decided that he didn’t want the sign so close to him. Consequently, he pushed it over and destroyed it.
The gravel road leads to our Polecat Creek farm about a mile away and continues for a couple more miles until it adjoins the paved road that leads to Penhook. We’ve given the Smith Mountain Hounds permission to cut through our farm, so they sometimes travel the gravel road. Once in a while a cousin or two rides down it. Every so often, a woman driving a pony cart traverses that road. So, there is equine traffic on the road.
Unfortunately, the local road-hunters are fond of cruising that road. At least they go slow, the better to shoot something. However, the road is also used by speeders. After all, why would cops be there? (Answer: Because ever since I was nearly in the line of fire of a guy shooting a turkey in the middle of the road right beside my farm on the Sunday before gobbler season opened, I report illegal activities by the road-hunters—that’s why.)
My husband picked up the mangled sign the day after it was trashed. Eventually, he returned it to the Virginia Department of Transportation. For a while, the road was unmarked, and I worried about the horses and riders on the road. Because the road curves, speeders can’t see what’s ahead.
Two weeks ago, however, VDOT replaced the sign.
So far it hasn’t accumulated any gunshot holes. And it serves as a warning that maybe—just maybe—there might be non-vehicular traffic on the road.
Of course, with the approach of hunting season, a new unblemished sign is going to make an awfully tempting target for some of the road-hunters. . . .
The gravel road leads to our Polecat Creek farm about a mile away and continues for a couple more miles until it adjoins the paved road that leads to Penhook. We’ve given the Smith Mountain Hounds permission to cut through our farm, so they sometimes travel the gravel road. Once in a while a cousin or two rides down it. Every so often, a woman driving a pony cart traverses that road. So, there is equine traffic on the road.
Unfortunately, the local road-hunters are fond of cruising that road. At least they go slow, the better to shoot something. However, the road is also used by speeders. After all, why would cops be there? (Answer: Because ever since I was nearly in the line of fire of a guy shooting a turkey in the middle of the road right beside my farm on the Sunday before gobbler season opened, I report illegal activities by the road-hunters—that’s why.)
My husband picked up the mangled sign the day after it was trashed. Eventually, he returned it to the Virginia Department of Transportation. For a while, the road was unmarked, and I worried about the horses and riders on the road. Because the road curves, speeders can’t see what’s ahead.
Two weeks ago, however, VDOT replaced the sign.
So far it hasn’t accumulated any gunshot holes. And it serves as a warning that maybe—just maybe—there might be non-vehicular traffic on the road.Of course, with the approach of hunting season, a new unblemished sign is going to make an awfully tempting target for some of the road-hunters. . . .
Labels: harassment
posted by Becky Mushko | 8:56 PM
2 Comments:
Well afterall, bright yellow signs are one of the more amusing things to hunt. Plus, they're always in season!
My fiancee told me this last night and I had to pass it on:
"An infinite number of rednecks, in an infinite number of pickup trucks, firing an infinite number of shotguns at an infinite number of road signs, will produce all the great works of literature - in Braille."
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