Country living can be quite pleasant. I love it.
I don't love skunks. What are skunks good for, anyway? I'd like to know.
They aren't good for target practice. Read on.
A few nights ago, the dogs alerted us to a problem outside. We found it on the back porch, having a cat food dinner. It had sprayed at something and things were stinky. Later, we saw yellowish spots on the siding of the house. Nice.
We set some traps, but we only caught a bird. Leah liberated it.
Tonight, I heard the dogs at it again so I went to the back door. I'm very grateful our back door has a window! There was the problem again, having more cat food for dinner.
I found Chad (cutting cement board in the garage) and told him the skunk was back. He grabbed the rifle and went out the front door. I rattled the door enough to send the skunk down the deck steps which is where Chad shot it.
Oh, the stench! The smell of (skunk) death! I'm choking. Joseph and Sarah's room must be toxic. It's 77 degrees in the house and we've closed the windows. Now I'm melting, too.
And because of the smell (and the dark, since it was 10:45 PM), Chad decided to wait until morning to do anything about the skunk. So it's on the bottom step, soaking in a pool of blood. We really need to catch them in traps. It's less hazardous.
Lovely. Country living is not all roses and sunsets!
Showing posts with label skunk. Show all posts
Showing posts with label skunk. Show all posts
Friday, July 02, 2010
Wednesday, December 03, 2008
Unexpected Search Result
I have been getting A LOT of hits on my blog because of people searching for "*kunk *ait." I'll alter the spelling here in hopes that they won't be accidentally referred to this post.
These hits have been coming for several months now. Apparently, there are many people dealing with this stinky little critter. I also get a lot of hits for people searching for someone making c*kes, named Colette. A few other searches have been remotely popular, but none so much as the first.
Maybe I should make up some kind of snake oil remedy and sell it. It seems people are desperate.
These hits have been coming for several months now. Apparently, there are many people dealing with this stinky little critter. I also get a lot of hits for people searching for someone making c*kes, named Colette. A few other searches have been remotely popular, but none so much as the first.
Maybe I should make up some kind of snake oil remedy and sell it. It seems people are desperate.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Skunk Bait
That's what I had for lunch today. Did you know that skunks really like corn? They really like carrots, too, it seems. When we were feeding the animals last night I made a quick check of the garden and collected some ripening tomatoes. I pulled two ears of corn from the stalks.
Our corn isn't doing very well. We had some strong wind knock a bunch of it over a day after a heavy watering. Now half of it is being supported by the other half, and neither half is thriving with those conditions. So one of the ears was pretty light on the kernels. The other one was pretty good so I shucked it and brought it inside (and had it for lunch today). Daniel had picked an ear of his own, but after throwing it around the yard for several minutes it was badly battered. With the two bad ears of corn, I reset the skunk trap.
Now, there is currently a skunk sitting in our trap awaiting his sentence. I'm beginning to lose track. I think this is the 4th or 5th skunk we've caught in the trap. That makes the 5th or 6th skunk to be buried in the pasture this year. I can only imagine the surprise a skunk is bound to make when it (or another burrowing animal) runs into one of these burial sites. We also have a cat out there somewhere!
Except for the skunk we drowned last week, all other skunks have been shot. The trap was beginning to suffer from the shooting, and the skunk would always end up stinking, so we tried drowning. That skunk still managed to stink a bit. Oh well. Winter is coming = less skunks. Gotta love that fresh country air!
Our corn isn't doing very well. We had some strong wind knock a bunch of it over a day after a heavy watering. Now half of it is being supported by the other half, and neither half is thriving with those conditions. So one of the ears was pretty light on the kernels. The other one was pretty good so I shucked it and brought it inside (and had it for lunch today). Daniel had picked an ear of his own, but after throwing it around the yard for several minutes it was badly battered. With the two bad ears of corn, I reset the skunk trap.
Now, there is currently a skunk sitting in our trap awaiting his sentence. I'm beginning to lose track. I think this is the 4th or 5th skunk we've caught in the trap. That makes the 5th or 6th skunk to be buried in the pasture this year. I can only imagine the surprise a skunk is bound to make when it (or another burrowing animal) runs into one of these burial sites. We also have a cat out there somewhere!
Except for the skunk we drowned last week, all other skunks have been shot. The trap was beginning to suffer from the shooting, and the skunk would always end up stinking, so we tried drowning. That skunk still managed to stink a bit. Oh well. Winter is coming = less skunks. Gotta love that fresh country air!
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Good-bye SUMMER!
School starts tomorrow. Hallelujah! I am looking forward to a little peace and harmony around here. I hope I still have a chance to get some. At least the number one antagonist will be gone for 8 hours, as well as the number one negative complainer. No one will be hitting us as they walk by and we can eat our lunch in peace without hearing someone say they don't want that.
Their school bags are packed. I wrote names/initials/identifying marks on 16 glue sticks, 1 bottle of glue, 4 large erasers, 72 crayons, 29 pencils, one pencil sharpener, 3 notebooks, 1 folder, 2 rulers, 2 file boxes, 2 pairs of scissors, 12 colored pencils, 1 set of watercolors, 12 markers, and 2 pencil boxes. (There may be something else, but I'm remembering off the top of my head here.) Also included, but not marked, are 2 containers of disinfectant wipes and 3 large boxes of tissues.
We made the boys get up early this morning - the same time they need to get up for school. They both wore a new pair of shoes in honor of the "practice". Nathan said they came from SPU and Daniel disagreed, saying they came from FeeDex. At least I don't shop online so often that they actually know what those delivery companies are really called!
We've been having fun with skunks lately. We actually caught one in our trap. That one is buried now, but it's relative got revenge on us and stunk up our yard and house pretty good Sunday night. One of the cats sure smelled like skunk today. Lovely little critters.
Here are some scrapbook pages I've done recently.
Credits:
"Relax" by Summer Driggs
Sunday, June 29, 2008
One More "Kitten" or is it two?
This is a little song by Janeen Brady. It's called "I Thought It Was a Kitten." I didn't get copyright permission to share it, so I hope she won't mind a bizarre form of appreciation.
"Well I thought it was a kitten with a stripe down it's back.
And it looked so pretty sittin', shiny white, shiny black.
Thought that it might like to play, so I grabbed it by the tail.
I think that I've been skunked. Can you tell?"
I learned this song as a kid and every once in a while it pops into my head. It's been running on a constant cycle lately. Here's why:
Yep! This little fellow has been letting us share a yard with it. We've been grateful that it's been so kind. It first showed up on Tuesday afternoon last week. It was still here when we got back from Sun Valley last Saturday. We saw it daily. After reading this on the Colorado State University's Extension website, I hardly wanted to let the kids outside!
Skunks are nocturnal and reclusive. Use extra caution if you encounter a skunk during the day or one that is extremely aggressive. This abnormal behavior may indicate that the animal is rabid. The occurrence of rabid skunks appears highest from February to May, when they breed and give birth to their young.
On Tuesday, Chad's business partner lent him a .22 rifle. They came in the morning when I told them I saw it out front, but gave up after about 10 minutes of searching. I called Chad around 4:30 that afternoon and told him I could currently see it. I stood outside in the hot sun and kept my eyes trained on the tall weeds where the skunk foraged. We flushed it out and Chad got 2 practice shots at it before we lost it in the pasture. We tried to get Chocolate in on the fun. (See how we're willing to sacrifice the dog?) We gave up after 20 minutes of skunk huntin'. We saw it in the backyard that evening but by the time Chad got the rifle ready, it had given us the slip again! Close to 20 minutes later, I saw it in the front yard. (By now it's 9:30 PM.) Chad took several more practice shots, convinced the skunk to fill the air with a nice perfume and eventually hit it. He buried it in the pasture.
I was so relieved! And then I was disappointed the next morning when I saw a skunk leaving the garden area and head into the tall grass. I even called Chad to confirm that he actually buried the pest! So we have more than one skunk.
I had just bought a BB/Pellet gun at Wal-Mart that day, but by the time I opened it up, got the lock off and figured the whole thing out, the stinker was gone (pun intended). Then Nathan saw it again just as we were finishing up dinner. I grabbed the gun and loaded the pellets. I, too, took some practice shots. It seemed that my last pellet hit the creature, but it was in tall grass and I wasn't sure. It kept getting up and down. Then it really decided to get up. But I was out of pellets and by the time Chad could bring me more, it was under the lilac bush. I was in the sprinklers trying to see it! And that is where the story ends.
We had to load up into the van to get to Pack Meeting (Daniel's first cub scout meeting). We haven't seen the skunk since. I wonder if I really did hit it? I keep trying to get Chad to get under the lilac bush and see, but he's not very obedient!
It's just another exciting adventure in country living!
Totally switching gears with no segue at all...I did finish those long ago mentioned curtains for the dining room. I hung them the night before Daniel's baptism (two weeks ago). Here they are. I have plans to paint the walls there a coordinating/light green. It hasn't happened yet, as you can see. They look mostly how I planned. This is an afternoon shot, so everything is really bright.
"Well I thought it was a kitten with a stripe down it's back.
And it looked so pretty sittin', shiny white, shiny black.
Thought that it might like to play, so I grabbed it by the tail.
I think that I've been skunked. Can you tell?"
I learned this song as a kid and every once in a while it pops into my head. It's been running on a constant cycle lately. Here's why:
Yep! This little fellow has been letting us share a yard with it. We've been grateful that it's been so kind. It first showed up on Tuesday afternoon last week. It was still here when we got back from Sun Valley last Saturday. We saw it daily. After reading this on the Colorado State University's Extension website, I hardly wanted to let the kids outside!
Skunks are nocturnal and reclusive. Use extra caution if you encounter a skunk during the day or one that is extremely aggressive. This abnormal behavior may indicate that the animal is rabid. The occurrence of rabid skunks appears highest from February to May, when they breed and give birth to their young.
On Tuesday, Chad's business partner lent him a .22 rifle. They came in the morning when I told them I saw it out front, but gave up after about 10 minutes of searching. I called Chad around 4:30 that afternoon and told him I could currently see it. I stood outside in the hot sun and kept my eyes trained on the tall weeds where the skunk foraged. We flushed it out and Chad got 2 practice shots at it before we lost it in the pasture. We tried to get Chocolate in on the fun. (See how we're willing to sacrifice the dog?) We gave up after 20 minutes of skunk huntin'. We saw it in the backyard that evening but by the time Chad got the rifle ready, it had given us the slip again! Close to 20 minutes later, I saw it in the front yard. (By now it's 9:30 PM.) Chad took several more practice shots, convinced the skunk to fill the air with a nice perfume and eventually hit it. He buried it in the pasture.
I was so relieved! And then I was disappointed the next morning when I saw a skunk leaving the garden area and head into the tall grass. I even called Chad to confirm that he actually buried the pest! So we have more than one skunk.
I had just bought a BB/Pellet gun at Wal-Mart that day, but by the time I opened it up, got the lock off and figured the whole thing out, the stinker was gone (pun intended). Then Nathan saw it again just as we were finishing up dinner. I grabbed the gun and loaded the pellets. I, too, took some practice shots. It seemed that my last pellet hit the creature, but it was in tall grass and I wasn't sure. It kept getting up and down. Then it really decided to get up. But I was out of pellets and by the time Chad could bring me more, it was under the lilac bush. I was in the sprinklers trying to see it! And that is where the story ends.
We had to load up into the van to get to Pack Meeting (Daniel's first cub scout meeting). We haven't seen the skunk since. I wonder if I really did hit it? I keep trying to get Chad to get under the lilac bush and see, but he's not very obedient!
It's just another exciting adventure in country living!
Totally switching gears with no segue at all...I did finish those long ago mentioned curtains for the dining room. I hung them the night before Daniel's baptism (two weeks ago). Here they are. I have plans to paint the walls there a coordinating/light green. It hasn't happened yet, as you can see. They look mostly how I planned. This is an afternoon shot, so everything is really bright.
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