YOU SKUNK!

I have come to realize that living in the country does not always mean living in harmony with nature. When wild animals and humans share the same space there are bound to be conflicts from time to time. The conflict this week was with a skunk.

Max always is barking at something in the night. He has done a really good job at keeping unwanted critters, wild and domestic, out of the yard. But Saturday night was different. Max was barking incessantly. I finally got tired of it and went to tell him to settle down. He didn't listen to me so I went out to see what in the world was going on. There he was with his head in the chicken's hole to the chicken coop, lunging and barking like nobody's business. I am not sure why but I didn't think anything of it. I just told him to get back out of there. It didn't occur to me that maybe there was a reason he was acting crazy. That is until he did step back and I heard an unfamiliar scratching and rustling coming from inside the coop. A chill ran down my back as I ran to the house. I grabbed the flashlight and a broom (yes, a broom), and ran back out to the coop with Cerra hot on my heels. I was telling Cerra about it on the way out and she exclaimed, "What are you going to do with a broom!?" Good question. So I traded the broom for a hoe that was sitting by the garden gate, (still ???). Of course by that time the invader was gone (thank goodness). All that was left was broken egg shells. What was gone was one of the chickens. The next morning when I went to feed the horse and goats I found that not only did the varmint boldly come into the chicken coop and eat the eggs and probably carry off a chicken, he also came into the yard and ate the eggs the chickens had laid in the haystack. There were egg shells all over the place. While Cerra knew all along it was a skunk, I still wasn't sure. That is until the next night.

After some discussion Cerra and I decided to board up the chicken coop for the night and lock the kittens in the garage to keep them safe. Evening rolled around and with it an early sunset. By the time Cerra got home from her visiting teaching it was already dark. She went to lock up the kittens and I went to close up the chicken coop. I trotted out to the coop without a care and threw open the door. Who did I meet face to face? THE SKUNK! I slammed the door shut and was just about to put something over the chicken entrance when out he came. He wasted no time in finding an escape route under the coop. Well, to make an even longer story a little shorter, we set a trap that night and we did catch him. Now I have the unpleasant task of disposing of him. NOT my favorite part of country living.