The Bullhead

Tales from the Backyard…About three miles from the farm there was a small creek where we would go fish for bullheads.  I remember one day catching one about 2 inches long and decided I would make it a pet and so started to carry it home.  They can live for hours out of water.  To walk that far alone I must have been six, as we moved shortly after that.   Bullheads have sharp painful spikes at the ends of their pectoral fins so you have to be very careful holding them and not squeeze or they will extend their pectorals and jab you, which has some painful bacteria and the pain lasts for hours if not days.  I remember making it all the way to the yard and in my excitement to show my mom, I squeezed too hard and it jabbed the stinger into my palm, god that hurt, I threw it down and killed it with a stick.  My hand hurt for days.