The Cowboy and I were up doing the chores a few weeks ago with the slowly fading odor of skunk whiffing on the humid morning breeze in the feed shed. Other than a quick look around, I didn’t think much of it. We know they’re around. Every month or so, some woodland creature gets too bold or some brave four-footed soul things he can take on a car and the stink will drift around the fields for a few days. {shrug} On to the work at hand.

A few days later we’re in the feed shed and there’s broken egg shells on the ground. My first thought was Penny. She’s been known to find a “wild” hen nest in the straw and have a snack. I mentioned something to the Cowboy about hunting up whoever had gone off the reservation and finding the rest of the eggs before Penny did.

The next day, there were like 12 broken eggs scattered in the feed shed!

The Cowboy had gotten distracted and left the egg basket from the afternoon before by the feed shed gate and something had knocked it over and eaten ALL THE EGGS.

So we started hunting for tracks.

We didn’t find any, but we did find scat along one wall in the feed shed. Ugh! Add the smell, the eggs, and the scat and the Cowboy and I knew we had a skunk invasion. (And just a little reminder…our “feed shed” is really just a lean-to off the side of our garage, right next to our house!)

Mr. Fix-It set out our trap. He wasn’t completely convinced it was a skunk (last time it was a possum) but he put the trap out where we could see it before we had to get to close to it.

We didn’t catch anything.

Well…I mentioned last week that Mr. Fix-It and I taught a VBS class this year–5th and 6th grade boys. Getting the kiddos to their classes, and us and all our junk…er…valuable teaching materials!…to our room each night really maked for a messy, chaotic, lots-a-coffee, kinda week.

That Tuesday night we got home, let Penny out, and put the kiddos to bed. We heard Penny off barking and figured she heard a bird or was chasing a snake or something. (Seriously, the snakes are bad this year!) At bedtime we let her in, and the rancid smell of burning rubber came with her.

Penny got skunked.

I reckon the good news is she seems to have convinced that skunk not to come around any more. No sign of him since!

The bad news is…well…she stinks!

It was the middle of VBS week, so we didn’t even have time to wash her 57,000 times right away, so she pretty much had to stay outside for five days. She started out excited about chasing the skunk, but when she realized she had to sleep outside and no one would pet her, she was kinda bummed. She kicked around with that hang-dogged expression until the weekend when we scrubbed her down with SKUNK OUT. It didn’t make it go away, but it made it live-able and she was allowed back in the house. That made her happy! She doesn’t like being separated from her people. Reminds me of that scene from Night of the Grizzly when little Rosebud and the dog had to eat at a separate table out on the porch when they got skunked. (Funny tidbit–my Dad wanted to name me Rosebud after the little girl in that movie. It was Rosebud or Jamie. I think Momma got the final say. Thank goodness!)

Anyway, she still stinks, but only if you stand next to her. At least you can’t smell her when you pull in the driveway anymore. {sigh}

It’s been a strange year for predators. Remember when I saw the coyote earlier this summer? We also seem to have a weasel stalking our chicken field pen. We lost five meat birds in one night. Mr. Fix-It and Penny have set up the trap again and been prowling around after dark, on guard. Just more of the daily farm adventures, I guess.

Any after-dark happenings at your home place?

And don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter  with updates of the Daily Farm Adventures on Mondays and Fridays–and other intentional family content the rest of the week! You know, now that I’m writing again! {smile}