A story that needs sharing...it's long but so worth it!

Here's a story about Tom that needs sharing. Background...mom and dad got a sprinkler system last summer b/c they re-sodded their almost acre lot.
Ok, so they noticed last week that something was taking the heads of the sprinklers to try to get to water. After some investigative work, they determined that the culprit was an armadillo. So the "city slickers" went a bought a trap. Sunday night they proceeded to "bait the trap" with fruit to no avail. So Monday when I talked to mom she was going to Gander Mountain to purchase worms to "bait the trap." The worms were then safely (at least for a while) placed inside of a stocking (or for those of us who lived in the 80s and 90s...pantyhose). Supposedly the city slickers learned this off the internet (or as mom told me..."the computer told us what to do"...man I've gotta get one of those talking computers.) So last night dad went to "check the trap" before bed. (Side note: They've misplaced their floodlight so all he had was cheap flashlight that didn't provide much assistance!) At about 11:00, dad went out side. He checked the trap...and nothing...it was empty. On his way back to the house (the trap was in the wooded area near the back of the yard) he noticed what he thought was a snake (not unusual at their house) coming out of my mom’s flowerbed. However, upon closer inspection dad noticed it was the tail of the (cue music...da...da...da...) armadillo. So dad proceeded to run inside to get the gun (please remember where he grew up...you all knew this story was going to end up here!) After a few min of searching for the bullets which were appropriately housed separately from the gun, he went back outside. By this time, the armadillo was in the top part of the yard (for those of you who know the yard it was by the basketball goal). The next part of this story may or may not be true since I'm pretty sure you can't shoot a gun in city limits and dad is a rule FOLLOWER (that's serious no sarcasm)! Ok, so he takes aim and shoots the armadillo. According to eye witnesses, the armadillo jumped 3 feet in the air. When it hit the ground it started running at full speed toward the bottom part of the yard (or tree house). Guess who was between the armadillo and the tree house...yep...dad. So dad with his bad knees was trying to get out of the way when all of a sudden he felt the thud of the armadillo hitting him square in the shin. He had a mud spot on his pants to prove it! He says there is no bruise, but I'm not sure I believe him! He said, “it’s not funny you don’t know what it’s like to have a wild animal running right at you!” Ok, so I’ll give him it was crazy, but wild animal were not talking lions and tigers and bears…it’s an armadillo! Anyway, they are setting up camp tonight to “get him.” Matt will be involved tonight and mom has vowed not to go to sleep at her usual time…so I’m sure there will be an even better story tomorrow. Stay tuned!