SKUNKED!

We got up early this morning - it helps that the neighbors across the street are cutting and bale-ing their hay cuz the huge equipment is LOUD and it's summer so our windows are open letting in the full sound effect. The hay guy likes to get started at O'Dark Thirty.

We groan, get up and let the dogs out while we scratch, stumble around and avoid each other's morning breath. We've done this every morning for the past 8 years with no incident...

Furry Husband opens the door to let the pooches in to eat their breakfast. WHA -- WHOA! He slams the door in their little furry faces. "Honey. I think the dogs got sprayed by a skunk."

I think he's wrong cuz anyone that would THINK they got sprayed...well, it's probably some passing skunk or maybe a dog farted or something...so I go to the door - all bossiness like he doesn't know what in the hell he's doing. Not sure when I turned into such a bossy wifey?

I open the door. Oh, good lord. They did get sprayed.

Our little cattle dog mix, Bequia (pronounced Beck-way), has this yellow discoloration on her chest/shoulder and she's drooling, has beady red eyes and is shaking her head. Sammy, our border collie mix is almost as stinky as little Bequia. The only dog untouched is our Gordon Setter, Booker. (HA! and people tell me he's stoo-pid)

I go to the internet and look up skunk spray neutralizer recipies. Found one involving peroxide, baking soda and some liquid soap posted by some chemist in AZ talking about changing the compounds of the skunk liquid. Fine. Sounds good. Furry Husband goes to the store to get the peroxide. Lucky for us we were up at the butt crack o' dawn... he arrives 40 min later, we mix up the solution and douse the dogs. It takes the smell right out. Or so I think.

We got home last night and there is this faint skunk smell everywhere. The dogs don't smell like they did - your eyes don't water standing next to them. You can be in the same room with them but there is this definate skunk odor.

I HATE skunks. I like the live and let live motto with wildlife... but skunk odor is so offensive to me that I HATE them. If I knew how to shoot a gun, I'd shoot every skunk I saw. I might actually GET a damn gun and learn firearm safety for the sole purpose of killing skunks. I secretly cheer when I see them dead on the road. "HA! Take that you stanky ass little bugger! Die you rotten, smelly things, DIE!"

Now our house smells like skunk. I'm stopping at the feed store tonight to buy some "Skunk Out". We'll try another treatment on the dogs tonight. We leave tomorrow for the Midwest...we hired a brand new pet sitter. Nice. She is gonna come stay at our house and it stinks like skunk. Should make for a memorable stay.

We have a lot of trouble finding pet sitters. Most people don't have any trouble throwing hay to horses or feeding dogs and cats....but you ask them to milk a goat? Scares 99.5% of them right off. Needless to say, we do not travel often.

Some are brave enough to come once and they never come back. One girl came out and our doe, Spot, would NOT be caught. Wouldn't come out of the pen - not for grain, not for treats - not nuthin'. From the day we got back this girl said she'd never come to our house again and I think she now carries a burning hatred of all things caprine (you know, bovine = cows, porcine = pigs...) She turns and walks the other way - FAST- when she sees us coming.

When goats don't wanna be caught...they keep juuuuust out of reach and they keep something in between you and them. You run around in circles chasing the damn goat. Spot must know we are leaving cuz she decided in the last two days she wasn't coming out of the pen...

It's no trouble for me cuz Furry Husband is there to help - but for this new pet sitter? By herself? Sigh. We'll pick up some Ritz crackers on the way home... Spot loves Ritz crackers. I hope she loves them well enough to behave for the new sitter.

See Spot run. Run Spot Run. *%#@!*^ Spot.