Occasionally we happen upon a story that captures your imagination. You know the kind, where you stop in your tracks and try to 'imagine what it might be like to have a badger hanging out on your back porch.

I was thumbing through my Facebook feed and saw this posted by the Parkston, South Dakota Police Department:

"Parkston Residents
We have had a couple of sightings of badgers in town. I have been in contact with the Game, Fish, and Parks along with the state trapper. They will be very hard to trap right now.  It is believed that the Badgers are looking for water so please do not leave any standing water out in bowls, baby pools, or anything that they can get into to get water. If you have concerns and you see them give the Police Department a call if they are away from houses we can try to shoot them beings they are considered a nuisance. If you have any questions feel free to contact the Police Department at 605-928-7301."
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It's kind of a neat story. Not totally unbelievable and obvious fodder for the locals to discuss over a cup of coffee. The following was NOT overheard but imagined as I write this.
'Have you seen any badgers around your place?'  'Yep, sure have, one was up on the porch drinking out of the dog bowl. Snoopy was upset with him being up there too.' (or) We filled up the pool for our granddaughter to cool off in this afternoon and I looked out and there he was, cooling off. He looked at me kind of funny and then waddled off. 
Sure, it's South Dakota, so not impossible, but it's one that we can file away. Remember the summer of 2021? Yep, it was dry. How dry was it? So dry I spotted a badger swimming in our kid's swimming pool.

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