Wednesday, November 04, 2020

Mighty Hunter

 As most old folks, we have a nightly routine.  We go to bed around 9 PM because Toby gets up at 4:30 AM to leave for work about 5:30. And as old folks, we usually wake up before the alarm goes off - what is up with that? Of course, if we sleep until the alarm goes off, I wake up disoriented. Anyway, around 9PM, we start the routine for bedtime. First we put all the dogs out to potty. Then we make the coffee, so that we don't have to do that in the morning when we are stumbling around. Usually by the time we make the coffee, the dogs are scratching at the door to come back inside. While I am letting them in, I lock all doors and turn out the lights. Then there is the usual brushing of teeth and donning of PJs. Exciting - Huh! Well, last night we did have some excitement. 

For the past couple of weeks, we have had a skunk coming up to the house. Last summer, we came home one evening to see Izzy (my mom's old dog) hopping around in the field near the drive where she usually runs out to meet our car. Then we saw the skunk. She was hopping around a skunk! I was sure she would stink to high heaven. But when we got parked and she came running up, she had not been sprayed at all. We figured that the skunk knew she was harmless, and she just wanted to play. Apparently, she and the skunk are buddies, because she never gets sprayed. It is the other two dogs that seem to have a problem with the skunk. Recently, while we had Jesse's dog, Rosita, here, we let the dogs out to potty one night, and Max, the Dane, growled menacingly. All the dogs turned and headed back inside immediately. Well, not Izzy. The skunk is her friend. The bad news is the skunk felt threatened by the big dogs and the grow, and sprayed. It was not a direct hit on the dogs, but just bad skunk smell. Toby closed the door quickly, but never quick enough.

We have had several similar incidents since then, when letting the dogs out. Sometimes when we come home after dark, there is the odor of skunk in the carport and around the house. Probably the skunk likes to eat dog food and sometimes the dogs surprise the skunk - hence the smell. A few years ago we had a skunk coming up to eat dog food at night. The dogs actually stayed in their dog house and let the skunk eat. Smart dogs.

So, last night we put the dogs out to potty. We heard barking (not unusual). When I went to let them in, they were stinky dogs (not Izzy) and the smell was coming in the house. Toby said it was my fault for putting them out (isn't he funny?). I said it was his fault for not taking care of the skunk yet. So he went and got the shotgun and a flashlight. The flashlight is mine to operate. We walked all around the house, him with the shotgun and me with the flashlight, but did not see the skunk. Obviously it had been there very recently. Then we spotted it heading to the neighbor's property. I pointed the flashlight and confirmed the skunk (and not my cat) Toby aimed and fired and hit the skunk. Yay! The mighty hunter! 

I am so glad to get the skunk dealt with, although my house is till a bit skunky today. The dogs have been banished to the outside. The weather is nice, and they stink.

6 comments:

Jo Castillo said...

Awwww, too funny. Happy you, uh, Toby got the skunk. Too bad it wasn’t a day or two sooner.

We had one around the house in Silver City but luckily we didn’t get sprayed. Haven’t seen many around here, knock on wood.

Bag Blog said...

Jo,
It still smells skunky around here, but I'm glad we got rid of the skunk.

Jo Castillo said...

Gene says he hasn’t smelled a skunk in several years because of his Parkinson’s. He would be OK to visit!

We are dog sitting our grand-dogs and they are confined to a yard in the city so little chance of a skunk here.

Bag Blog said...

Jo,
It seems to be skunk season here. I guess they are moving around and getting fat for the winter. They are funny creatures, but real PIAs. You are welcome to come visit any time. How do you feel about visitors?

Anonymous said...

There is a scene like this I the movie Hachi. Richard Here and the dog ended up in the tub together.

FF

Bag Blog said...

FF,
That movie made me cry.