The skunk part II

So John gets home, we round up another comforter to put on top of the cage, just in case.
He picks up the cage and puts it in the back of the pick up. Grabs a shotgun and jumps in the truck with Whitney.
They are home 20 minutes later, with an empty cage.
John somehow managed to open the cage, release the skunk and not get sprayed. Whitney said the skunk took off running, ran around in a big circle and came back toward the truck!!!
They jumped in the truck and took off, NO SKUNK, YOU ARE NOT COMING BACK WITH US!!
the end of the skunk.

Sorry this is the only picture, nobody was brave enough to lift the blanket and get close for a photo.

The skunk

So, a few weeks ago Ruby sticks her face down a hole by a tree in the backyard and gets sprayed by a skunk. This is at 6:45 in the morning, she comes back inside like nothing happened. I bend over to wipe off her face thinking it is wet from the grass, nope, not dew, skunk!!!
I am gaging, so off Ruby goes to the garage until I can pull it together.
I Run upstairs while the kids are yelling, "Mom, what is the matter??? are you sick??? what is that smell??? Oh my gosh did a skunk get in the house???!!!!"
I run some water in the bathtub as John carries Ruby upstairs. Let me be more descriptive, John doesn't pay much attention to Ruby so the fact that he was carrying her was probably totally freakin her out. He has on blue rubber gloves and is holding her as far from his body as possible. He deposits her in the bathroom and I rinse and scrub and rinse some more.
If you didn't know water makes skunk smell even worse!
We dry her off and try to get ready for school. I will deal with the rest later.
So after dropping the kids off at school, I try to get the skunk smell out of the house, the towels, the carpet and every other area it has infiltrated. It is a nice day so I am able to open the windows, but guess what... skunk smell outside too!!!
My neighbors cat had been sprayed a week earlier, so I head to her house to get the special de-skunk lotion they sell at the pet store.
Ruby gets several baths in that throughout the course of the day.
The smell is on everything. I go to the gym and I can still smell it.
When will this end!!!!
I call a trapping service. For $250-$300 they will come take care of my skunk.
Ummmmmm, no thanks, we got plans for that money. John got a trap from his brother and we set it up in the back yard. We can do this right, my man is a hunter, he can take care of this.
We try several food options, peanut butter and honey on white bread....who wouldn't like that?
dog food, all we caught with the dog food was an opossum who we relocated.
Finally, we put some leftover rib bones out there, what the heck let's give it a whirl.
The next morning the trap is shut.
Now we put a furniture pad over the cage so when we do approach it, we hopefully wont get sprayed. Unfortunately, it also means we cant see what is in the cage. Standing almost on the other side of the yard, we peer in and see some black and white!!! We got him, we got the little stinky sucker. He has pulled some of the furniture pad in the cage with him, but he is nice and cozy tucked in there.
Well great, since you are comfy, you can just sit in there and think about what you have done. The havoc you have brought on my dog, on my family.
And, well, John is out of town, so we cant do much with it anyway at this point.
Stay tuned for the next chapter of the stinky skunk.

This is Ruby

This is Ruby, she is a really sweet dog. We got her a little over a year ago for the kids. They were DYING to have a dog.

She is very affectionate and loyal, although, sometimes, not so smart.

John has never loved Ruby to much, not really his kind of dog.

But this morning, I heard John talking to Ruby, just the two of them.

We are trying to catch a skunk in the back yard and he was telling her all about it.

How She was going to help him trap that smelly sucker.

She was getting very fired up, I think just because John as actually paying some attention to her.

It was really sweet, but don't tell anyone, he will deny ever doing it.

Football

Some new favorite pics of mine from football.

It was a cold day in Michigan yesterday, not just the weather but my baby got beat at his game. Has only happened twice this year, we dont deal well with loss around here.

But look at my little man, he is happy and having a great time anyway. That is why he is my joy. He is always smiling!!!

love you handsome!!!!

Lucas

I feel like I dont post much about Lucas. He is so lowkey, no drama. Just cruising along, happy, smart and my handsome little man.

He is now a huge Michigan fan. The Michigan vs. State game was on last Saturday. Not being from Michigan I have no vested interest in this game, except now Lucas cares, so I will root for whoever he wants to win.

Makes it more fun watching the game

He was playing in the yard with a bunch of friends all morning pretending they were Michigan players creaming State players

Unfortunately, when the real game happened, State won. He was crushed

for 10 minutes, then he was back outside playing again.

I love 9 yr. old boys!!!

The world of tweens.
So Whitney needed some shoes for softball practice. The Pride practice inside during the colder months, so some real athletic shoes.
So off we go. I think we tried on every pair of shoes in the store, nothing was making her happy. "Grown up shoes arent cute", she says.
Finally, we found a pair. SIZE 7!!!!!!!!!!!!! Holy cow, she is killing me with this growing thing.
The price tag wasnt so fantastic either.
OUCH!