It continues.

Last week, Kent and I were returning home from pickleball and just as we
topped the small hill on the gravel that headed toward our mailbox, we saw
two teenager skunks.  They were traipsing ahead of us down the middle
of the road.  Their tails were high and fluffy and in their delicate little steps
they reminded me of two women with parasols mincing down the road to
get the attention of the male sex.

They are quite fetching really.  Too bad they are such a nuisance!

They sort of wandered from side to side and then took a sharp left into our yard.
When we got to the top of the driveway they were headed toward our shed.

I wonder...how many baby skunks an be born to one mama every year?

Season Mash Up

A few weeks ago Andrew was at Children's Hospital and the other
kids stayed with us.  The morning were a leeetle bit cool, not much,
but enough for the kids to rummage through my coat closet for scarves,
gloves, and hats.  But, underneath all of those cold weather paraphernalia,
they had on shorts and short sleeve shirts.  It got me to thinking about
seasonal mashups.

Of course, when the cold air moves in to where it is warm, or, when warm
air moves into where it is cold, it creates unsettledness in the atmosphere,
and storms and wild weather can be the result of the warm/cool mashup.

But there are plenty of other mashups as well.  For instance, baseball and
football.  Sometimes my poor dad and uncle are all nervousy just thinking
about which they should watch this time of year...football or baseball.  That
is especially true if the baseball Cardinals are in the playoffs as they are
this year.

But nature has its own mashups.  On the same day in early fall I can see
a late summer hummingbird at my feeder and an autumn glow-worm.  The last
hummer I saw this year was October 6th and just about that same time my
spider lilies popped up.  The lilies are a sure sign that it is autumn.  They are
like fall surprise lilies, because they do not even show their stems until
October and then they just shoot up, almost overnight and quickly blossom.

I love that summer has a toe hold yet and brings warm afternoons to top
off a chilly morning.  This is a mashup that could last for weeks, and I
would not complain.

One more post about skunks.  I am not promising that this will be the last...
just that it is one more for now.

The other day Bill told the sequel to the big skunk that Uncle Jim got and
Pa hauled off.  Apparently Pa put the skunk on top of his tractor and drove
down the road and then turned down the lane to go to Mike's house.  I
s'pose he meant to chuck the skunk in the woods somewhere along the way
where it would not be an offense to anyone.

However, it fell off, right on the lane behind Bill and Stacey's home.  All
week, when the wind blew right, they kept smelling that skunk, but had
no idea where it was or why it was where it was.  Pa sure didn't tell them!
When Bill dropped in at Jim's one night, though, to watch a Cardinal game,
Jim gave him the lowdown on the smell, so now Pa is in deep doo-doo.

Meanwhile, we still have a small guy/gal visiting us nightly on our porch,
and I just kick myself when I forget and leave the cat's food out after dark.

Surely skunks hibernate and we will at least have a seasonal break from them.

Skunk Saga part 5

The following tidbits from recent emails will give you a picture of what
is continuing on a daily basis here.

Sept. 24, from Uncle Jim to me:

Ah, the big boy made a return last night. He hung around long enough for me to slip a pellet into the gun and ease the door open. Then realizing that I had a bead on him he made a high dive for the darkness but for an unknown reason he stopped and stated drinking from the Kitties water bowl. Which afforded me the perfect opportunity to blast him in the head, BUT alas I missed the head and hit the water bowl and he was gone until the next meeting.

Skunk 1 Me 0

Sept. 24, later in the day, from me to Uncle Jim:

Kent missed one last night too!  He was wandering around the carport but Kent was holding both a flashlight and the gun.  Missed completely!  The saga never ends.  I will have to update the Skunk Summer Wedding when I get a chance.  But we did get one the other day that was living under the playhouse.  I poked him with a long stick and Kent was waiting on the other side.

Oct. 2, from me to Uncle Jim:

Hey, Uncliest Jimbo,

I heard you got the big guy.  Joel got a momma and two tweeners last weekend.  We

saw another of the tweeners the other night, but he was gone before Kent could

grab the gun.

The contest continues.  

Oct. 2, later in the day, from Uncle Jim to me:

Mr. Skunk met his end when he turned his back and started to get under my car so 

that's where I shot him in the rear end. I didn't know that he died till your Pa saw him 

under the car. Surely we must be making a dent in the skunk population but then if they breed 

like cats they may get the upper hand. Maybe they will hibernate when the cool air comes in

tomorrow night. We can hope.

Your Uncliest Jimmy

From me to the blog audience:

I will keep you posted.