Lesson learned

My grandmother-in-law, all 5 feet 5 inches of her and 100 pounds soaking wet, was a deadly shot with a .22 rifle. Many rattlesnakes soaking up the sun along Hazel Creek in Swain County found this out, as did a hard-headed goat.

In the summer of 1936, Grandmother's garden was growing great. In those years of the Great Depression, their garden was a vital source of food. The neighbor's goat also enjoyed filling his belly with fresh garden vegetables. Grandmother complained to the neighbors several times about the goat's rampages, but the goat kept coming back. Grandmother got fed up one warm summer day when she saw that goat in her garden once again. I guess you could say that goat really got her goat!

She grabbed her trusty rifle and blasted a shot right between the goat's eyes. It shook its head a few times and wandered away, never to enter the garden again. The goat lived for several more years. The neighbors wondered why it acted strangely from then on, but my grandmother never told them about her angry shot between its eyes.

Steve Schmidt, Deep Gap, Blue Ridge EMC