Elmdale Farm

                      
                                                       Elmdale Farm

     Life was wonderful on Elmdale farm. Every morning the cock crowed at sunrise. The
sun shed its warmth,most days. Rain came when needed and dampened the soil. Seeds were planted
producing bountiful alfalfa fields. Corn stalks grew tall. Wheat heads bowed to the ground ready to be combined. Ewes lambed, cows calved, horses foaled, and pigs birthed large litters of piglets. Chickens laid eggs, cats had kittens and dogs had puppies. Farmer Brown and his wife, Lila, and their
five children were content.
     One sunny day as Farmer Brown was changing a belt on his combine a dark cloud rolled in.
     "Mmmmm funny. Weatherman didn't call for rain. Better get this done before it starts," he said.
     Distracted by the potential for rain, Farmer Brown didn't see the groundhog in his alfalfa field.
Greedy Groundhog had been digging holes in the field making a comfortable home for himself.
As he popped his head above the grass he snickered and thought to himself. That old farmer is too busy with his broken down old combine. Soon he'll be combining wheat. He'll never see me. I can
have a hey day(no pun intended) in this field. By the time he comes for a third cut of hay I'll have most of my tunnels made. He really gets ticked at me when I leave large mounds of dirt all over the field. You should hear him curse every time the hay wagon hits one of my dirt mounds. I can hear it
as plain as day down in my hole. Hehehehehe.
     Farmer Brown continued on with his work, checked the weather forecast on his computer, and started combining. Greedy Groundhog continued digging tunnels and building mounds of dirt. During one of his breaks he popped his head out of a hole to check on Farmer Brown.
    "I'm in the process of creating a masterpiece in this field," Greedy said.
     Time went by and the last days of summer turned to fall. Greedy stopped digging and started to
prepare for winter. Farmer Brown finished combining wheat and turned his focus to his alfalfa
fields. He expected their to be groundhog damage to the fields. Much to his surprise as he walked to
the hay fields he discovered more than minimal damage. He spent more time dodging ground hog
holes and tripping over mounds of soil, than he did checking his crop.
     Normally, Farmer Brown was slow to anger and pretty much took  everyday life in stride.
After his trip through the alfalfa fields, his attitude changed. He was furious. He stomped back to
the farm house, grabbed his rifle and bullets and set out to revenge the groundhog. Meanwhile, Greedy Groundhog, exhausted after all his work, rested in his hole. Just as he nodded off to sleep, he
heard yelling above ground. The sound of gun shots made him jump, hitting his head on the dirt
ceiling.
     "Oh no, Farmer Brown is after me. I'd better lay low for a few days, " Greedy said.
     Farmer Brown searched the fields until dusk. As he wandered back home, a peace came over him
from his head to his toes. He realized the way he had been acting wasn't going to solve anything. He
had work to do the next day and he needed a good nights sleep.
     Greedy Groundhog settled in his hole for the night. He knew he could possibly face the
wrath of Farmer Brown in the morning so he had better be prepared. With his head on his pillow
Farmer Brown's thoughts turned to all the blessings in his life. He prayed with thankfulness in his words and thoughts. As his eyes closed he whispered to Greedy out in the alfalfa field.
     "I'll get you tomorrow."