MING THE MIGHTY GANDER

MING THE MIGHTY GANDER

For awhile I boarded with Jack Mackie and
his wife on a farm just west of Uxbridge for awhile in 65

One problem was Ming.

Ming was a huge Chinese gander, he had a
flock of a dozen geese and he ruled the farm. He was big and  mean and if you came anyway near his flock he
would attack with beak and wings.  Every
movement depended if you were a safe distance from Ming. It was almost always a
quick run from the car. A further problem was the nests nobody go near them and
more geese were coming at a great rate.

So one night I was sitting around drinking
beer waiting for Jack to get home from his shift and have a few beers with
him.  It was a nice night with a full
moon I wandered outside and stood looking at the moon and sipping my beer when
I felt something touch my leg.  I looked
down and to my horror it was Ming he just stood there. I stood there afraid to
move.I dont know what got into me but I tapped his beak with my bottle and he opened his beak and I poured in a bit of beer. We drank the bottle more or less one for him two for me and parted as friends. I went inside and a bit later Jack came came running in. Jesus he said "that old gander is mean tonight he seemed to stagger like he was drunk or something". I laughed and told him about feeding him some beer.

Well the aftermath was Ming and I were best friends forever. I never had to run again I could walk through his flock. I could go in the nests and cull the eggs i could pick him up. And Every now again we would share a beer.