Reminiscences: The Moss Boys
The Walkleys were a very nice family living in Durham on Main Street. After buying a large walk-in squirrel cage, they realised there was nothing to put in it. The next thing they did was ask Don and me if we could get squirrels for them. I forgot what their offer was. We found a nice grove of medium sized hickory trees and easily climbed to the top, chasing our first squirrel. He jumped to the ground, shook himself and went up another tree with one of us right behind. He eventually got so tired, we just picked him up and put him in a bag. We found this method worked very well but then Don reached his arm in a hole in a tree and came out with the squirrel hanging on one finger.
I always wanted to get some wood duck eggs to hatch because they are such beautiful birds. After I found a nest in a tall tree with eggs, it was easy to take a few home and hatch under an old setting hen. They all survived and made me very happy.
One very early morning I went over to this red fox den half way up a mountain and came home with two fox pups inside my shirt. After they got large enough we got collars and a leash so they could go with us to ball games and motorcycle hill climbs where they were very popular.
One cold winter day I saw this snowy owl flying around the orchard where we lived and thought what a beautiful and unusual pet it would make. Believe it or not, the very next day it ended up in our old sparrow hawk cage. After a very sore hand, I decided a bird with talons like daggers and a very sharp beak would not make a good pet after all.
In later years my brother John and I went on a camping trip down to Lake Okeechobee in Florida to check on some land "Pa", our father, had invested in years ago. We were lucky to pitch our brand new tent on the only clear, bug-free piece on land in Florida. It was nice clean sand and gravel, dredged up to make this very large dike around the south shore of the big lake. We spent a lot of time exploring the area which included a sugar mill, many acres of sugar cane and a chance to find the sweetest cane to chew. All went well until John caught a cold and while he was recuperating in the sun, the buzzards started circling very close to the ground so we thought it time to head home.
Walter Herbert Moss
July 20, 1996