Oh my

 Last night at supper..Far Guy said.."look at that."  There were six half grown baby skunks outside of the living room window.  Oh my.  Glad they didn't spray anything. 

Ain't life grand.  Just when you think you have a few things under control...you don't.  I grabbed my camera and got a couple of photos out of the kitchen window. They peeked in all the ground floor windows....so glad none of them were open! 

Oh a lighter note.  I made pork chops and a baked potato for supper.  Jen went back home in the afternoon after we were all stocked up with groceries and supplies. She cleaned the bathroom and vacuumed. AND made us a pan of lasagna and Far Guys famous Italian sausage cheezy dip.

It was a nice day outside the high was 75F or 24C the low was 53F or 12C.  I had a nap in the afternoon. 

Far Guy is still struggling with the Cancer medications.

Far Side

Dog Days

 August is here bringing in the dog days of summer. 

The dogs next door were skunked...visiting Border Collies that tried to best a skunk.  We sent over two "skunk kits" that I keep on hand for skunk emergencies...peroxide, baking soda, softsoap and rubber gloves.   

This is Gus...his brother Monte got the worst of the skunking and was mostly asleep when we visited. 

Luckily Smudge and Baxter escaped...we heard Baxter went into the woods and barked but Smudge stayed right on the road and barked! 

Smudge is growing a bit taller...here she is biting Baxters front foot to get his attention. 

If you live in or near the woods sooner or later there will be a skunking.  Just a matter of time. 

Far Side

Skunk Kit:

1 quart Hydrogen Peroxide

1/4 cup baking soda

1 teaspoon soft soap or dish soap like dawn

Rubber gloves 

Mix in a bucket and apply to the dog...it may bleach the hair of your dog.  You can repeat treatments then rinse well and then bathe the dog with shampoo.  

Along the road

The golden glow of the evening sunset makes the purple and yellow wildflowers shine.

Bee Balm and False Sunflowers

During our evening drives the heavy fragrance of the Common Milkweed hangs in the air.   We saw two Monarch Butterflies in our yard! That is two more than we saw last year.

Common Milkweed

We saw this one night and it caused quite a bit of excitement.

It was a skunk digging holes and acting funny.  It was down on the corner.  Yesterday after running an errand we saw a sail skunk at the edge of the road and it wasn’t even smelly…imagine that.  I hope those two skunks are one and the same.

Far Guy and Chance walk the area where the skunk was seen…I would rather that neither of them get skunked.

October Happenings

The weather has turned cold and damp.  Bone chilling dampness that makes your body hurt all over.  I got out my snow boots.  I should have gotten out my parka too. Hindsight is twenty twenty or perhaps I am delusional and think it will warm up.

The snow brought out the Juncos to the grass under the feeders.  The Blue Jays are passing through too, I hope they don’t stay. Squirrels and Blue Jays can be within a foot of each other and still not be bothered.

There are still a bunch of leaves in the trees.

There is a Red Bellied Woodpecker in that tree.

Our usual birds are still here; Nuthatches, Chickadees and Woodpeckers…Downy, Hairy and Red Bellied.

This is a female Downy Woodpecker…they have a shorter beak than the Hairys.

We put the snow stick up yesterday.  We will have some fun with that and have a snow stick contest like last year and the year before.  This year the stick has larger numbers…for us older people.

As you can see there is some snow on those leaves.  I hope it melts so we can mulch the yard at least one more time.

Far Guy got the Wild Gardens all mowed down.

Someone got some snow on his ears.  It is that time of year that makes dog owners nervous.  The skunks are out.  The other night we saw two running along the road and there are sail skunks ( dead as a door nail flatter than a pancake and uber smelly) on the roads…and we all cheer…well Chance would cheer if he could.  I take Chance out at night on leash only.  Far Guy is braver and goes outside and barks and then takes Chance out off leash.  I question that…better safe than sorry I say…but they are males and I am out numbered. It will almost be a relief when we finally get a foot or more of snow on the ground and the skunks go into their semi hibernation state. It will be warmer once the snow blankets the ground too:) 

The Skunking

Chance still smells a little like skunk..even though he has endured many baths.  If he gets wet in the morning dew..the odor is accentuated.   Good thing we love him as much as we do!

Take it from me..skunk smell is the worst.  I wish I had known about the “Magic Stuff” back in the late 1980’s when a skunk walked right up to the fence where the Shelties were and sprayed Misty.

Rule One: Never let a dog that has been skunked into the house.  The oil will drip all over…and smell for weeks.

Rule Two:  Use rubber gloves..I did not use them with Misty..I picked her up..bad move.  I smelled like skunk until my finger nails grew out.

I washed her with everything possible..tomato juice..lemon juice..nothing  helped.  She smelled like skunk every time she got wet.  She eventually went blind..there is much controversy about skunk yuck blinding dogs.  The old timers will tell you that it happens often..the young Vets will tell you it is an old wives tale.

This is the first time that Chance has encountered a skunk.  Far Guy thinks the skunk was under the bird feeders…and Chance knew something was in the yard..and when Far Guy opened the door Chance ran out and the chase was on..for about 10 seconds.

Chance came right back to the door.  Dogs that have been skunked are a miserable mess..they will be foaming at the mouth..sometimes blinded by the spray and usually vomiting..Chance was all of those.  We did not let him in the house. We treated him with “the stuff” outside in the yard.

Far Guy announced the skunking about the same time as I smelled it.   Luckily I had all the ingredients to neutralize the smell.

“ The Magic Stuff”

One Quart 3% Hydrogen Peroxide

1/4 to 1/2 cup Baking Soda

2 teaspoons Soft-soap or Dawn dish soap

Mix together and scrub into the dog..being careful not to get any in his eyes.  Let set for ten minutes..rinse and repeat until the smell is mostly gone.  You won’t be able to tell..cause by then everything will smell like skunk to you.  Do not save the mixed up mixture…because it can explode if it is in a closed container. Discard any solution not used.

I now have a skunk bucket..with all the required ingredients inside along with two pair of disposable gloves.  I had to quickly look up the recipe..now it is also in the bucket..should there be a next time. ( I hope there is not a next time.)

It was a full moon that night..and the bird feeders were out. The skunks are looking for any food source they can find..they are bulking up now to go into hibernation when it snows.

I walk Chance at night on his lead.  Far Guy is a bit braver and allows him off lead but requires that he stay right next to him.  They have been practicing the word stop…and Far Guy takes the humongous Cyclops Flashlight outdoors with him at night.

  Miney, Chance and Little Elvis. 

We took care of Miney and Little Elvis last week..no one got skunked…thank goodness. In this photo they were stuck in the house with me..but they all wanted to be outside with Far Guy.

I have always wanted a solid wooden fenced in area in the back of the house..one that could be accessed by the door upstairs. It is now on my list:)

Observations in June

Just a few observations today. The Yellow Lady's Slippers that are along our back drive are in full bloom, they were 28 days behind the Yellow Lady's Slippers that are in our wildflower gardens. This year there were four blooms, that is the same as last year. The clumps seem to be staying the same size.


We saw a skunk on our outing last night..it has a den near an Oak along the fence line a mile and a fourth down the road. It waddled very fast into the tall prairie grasses, sadly I missed the shot of the skunk. Far Guy said I should get out and follow it. He would have waited in the car, as back up support. My brother and his wife and their grands often bike that way. I remember one time when one ran right along side Maddie when she was riding her bike, she was so scared..but she kept on pedaling her bike.    She ran into the house, and hollered "Grandma, I saw a skunk." and then she burst into tears.


We also saw the remnants of a deer leg in the road...HA!  one Lady Slipper eater bit the dust..was it a coyote? A wolf?

I usually spend some time visually drinking in the neighbors horses.. enough so I can imagine their smell. Most of the time Chance is quiet, last night he barked when the horses came to visit. There are an even dozen there now, Joe must have sold two. There are only two more days until the summer solstice. The days have not seemed very long because we have been cloudy and rainy.

 Now here is one thing to ponder.  Who is their right mind would mount a deer stand on top of an old manure spreader?  It isn't something you see every day of the week.  I hope it wasn't one of my relatives or a neighbor that reads this blog...if so what we you thinking?

On the bears,  I have seen only two in my entire life in Minnesota, one at an Auction Sale in the early spring..he awoke to the smell of hamburgers frying, and was relocated by the DNR.  The other one Far Guy and I saw running across our driveway at the resort.  A few weeks ago I missed seeing one because I was looking for Trillium.  Well, I can add one more to the list, one day I was coming back from Menahga on the back roads and saw one lumbering across the road..they truly are magnificent creatures.  I missed that photo op too, by the time I got close enough to take a photo he or she was in the woods. :)