Sidequest: Skunk

There are a lot more animals around here than just horses (and cats). I caught a pair of birds resting in Ernie's shadow on one perimeter walk.

I'm trying to start daily perimeter walks as a part of our normal. The heat doesn't help.

I can't help, but think the horses look at us and think, "If you have AC why aren't you using it?"

Sunday, it was a full family walk. Carrie, Shane, Loki, and I started on the south side. Shane got frustrated and and lagged behind to show dramatically how unhappy he was.

I didn't believe him when he yelled, "Skunk!"

Carrie's laser eyes spotted it.

A young skunk flopped and half-dragged itself across the bridle path and into a pasture. "Something's wrong," Carrie said.

I grabbed Loki before he put his nose into trouble. Carrie was already on the case. She crawled under the shock-wire.

"Take a picture!" I said.

Yeah, I thought about that...but back to the story at hand.

The skunk was clearly in distress. It walked right up to Carrie and collapsed.

Shane crawled in after. I gave him my shirt and he ran it to Carrie to scoop the skunk up in.

Loki and I ran ahead to the house. I needed to get him out of the picture and find a way to contain skunky until we figured out what to do.

I threw Loki's pen in the back and drove the gator back out to offer a ride, but Carrie and Shane had marched double-time.

Ticks covered the little fella. Shane said there were at least 13. Carrie said it was really over 20! They were "all over."

We put the skunk in a bin and she passed out. We brought her in the house to cool down. Carrie looked up what sort of food a juvenile skunk would need.

The skunk laid there, breathing hard. I was worried the little guy couldn't lift its head up to get to the water bowl, so I poured a little water out into the out rim of the bucket. It pooled under her mouth and she sputtered awake. I felt a little bad, but then she started to drink before resting her back back down.

Carrie called people in her horse network while this was going on. She figured out where to take skunky and asked if Shane and I "wanted to go on an adventure." I *thought* Carrie would be coming with us. She said she wanted to stay on property "Just in case" (Hmmm.....).

Well, sidequest accepted. Have audiobooks, will travel!

Skunky started to eat by the time we hopped in the Subaru.

He cleaned his plate and was moving by the time we reached the animal rescue in Waynesboro.

A masked woman came out and asked us to set the skunk barrel down. She picked it up and took it around back to get checked out by a vet. She asked us some questions to see if the skunk needed to be reported to the state for possible rabies testing and then gave us a number to check up on skunky later.

"We're not far from Uncle Patrick," Shane said.

So we visited Patrick! I called first. Patrick woke Shelby up from her nap to say "Surprise! Visitors!"

Shane said, "Surprise! Hugs!" to Giles.

Any cat that can put up with Shane is a good cat in my book. Giles is the personable sort. He helped keep Shane entertained while Patrick showed me his solution to sinus and culinary problems!

Patrick's been on a spice craze. He had quite the variety.

Shelby came out with a pack of post-nap Pop Tarts and Shane immediately dropped to the floor and begged like a dog. No, we don't train him that way. Patrick and Shelby were kind enough to open their pantry while Shane drooled over everything they had that we don't!

It wasn't a long visit. We had plans to grill on the back porch with some barn people and had to head back home. I never expected or would have hoped to have found a skunk on our walkabout, but it morphed into a fun sidequest and family visit. I love when things work out that way. 

Quest complete!

I didn't expect to find a one-eyed mule when we got homem, but that's a different chapter in our story.