Thief!!!! Trespasser!!!!

Well, this isn't the first trespassing morel-hunter on my land this year, but it's the first one I've caught in the act.

I was riding my horse to the river this morning, but before I crossed the railroad track, I noticed a car parked at Pedigo's abandoned place. Now, that place adjoins the back of our property, so I suspected it would be a good time to go back home and ride on my own property. Blue and I turned around.

Sure enough, there he was on one of our steepest banks. That white shirt really shows up out in the woods, as does the white hair.

"You're on my property," I said. "You have no business here."

"OK, I'll leave," he answered. And struggled up the steep bank.

"These hills will give you a heart attack," I warned. Good grief, what's an old man like that doing climbing around in these gullies?

"I know."

"Are you the one parked down at Pedigo's?"

"I'm one of them."

Often I suggest the trespassers give me half of what they've found; this guy obviously had quite a few in his bag. But somehow I just didn't have the heart, this time, to ask.

I rode Blue down through the gullies and didn't see any more thieves. But I'm sure they've been there.

I need to remember to get closer to my subjects, if I'm going to make them notorious on the Internet. Although if you click on the picture, you'll see a very clear likeness of the old guy.

Meanwhile, he has a story to tell when he meets his buddies at the car. I can just hear it now: "There was this old lady riding a big brown horse and she ran me off; looked like she might have had a gun, too. Oh, and she took my picture!"

It'll probably make his day.