SKUNKED!!!!

When we got home from Michigan, Blake saw that something had been digging trying to get under our patio. Well, the next morning when he was in the hot tub, he heard something moving around, it was a skunk! He watched it walk around the patio and wander out into the field.

So Blake decided to put more dirt and pack it down, hoping to discourage the skunk from trying to get under the patio. There was no sign of it for a few days, then Blake could tell that it had begun digging again. He borrowed a skunk trap to see if he could capture the varmit.

The first night he had the trap set, he made sure that Poky and Baby were locked in the garage, but he didn't catch a skunk. The next night Baby wouldn't go in the garage, and when he went out in the morning, he had definately caught something black and white! Baby was not happy at being locked up in the cage! She ate all the tuna fish, but was really ready to get out of there!

Blake decided not to set the trap the next night because there had been no sign of the skunk for the last 2 nights. About 2:00 am I woke up to Poky growling, he was in the garage growling like crazy. After a few minutes, I heard him go out of the garage, then I could hear an animal fight. It woke Blake up and he bolted out of bed. By the time he got to the garage, Poky was back in there, but he was leaving a little trail of blood. We don't know what he was fighting with. His ear was scratched and bleeding. Blake went out to the patio and looked to see if the skunk had dug some more and sure enough it had, it was probably under the patio right then! So at 2:30 am, Blake set the trap again. Poky and Baby were safely locked in the garage this time. When Blake got up a little after 5:00 to get in the hot tub, there was the skunk in the trap!

Now, he had a really big problem! How should he get rid of the thing! He had tied a rope on to the trap to drag it away from the house into the field. He had to wear his "headlight" flashlight so he could see where he was going.He got the trap out into the field, but didn't know how he could open the trap and shoot the skunk without being too close. Then he got the idea to drown it, so he filled the ditch with water and dragged the trap to the ditch and dunked it, when it was dead, he buried the stinking thing!

The next night he got a big idea to see if he could trap whatever was fighting with Poky. (We didn't think it was the skunk, because there was no odor.) So, he set the trap out on the driveway. At about midnight I heard the trap door slam shut, so I woke up Blake and he ran out there -- he couldn't tell what was in the trap, finally he got brave enough to get close enough to see --- it was a large black cat! He let it out and it ran off in a real hurry. We still don't know what Poky was fighting with, but decided we've had enough trapping wild animals!