Skunked

The brave Lilly Ann has met her match. 

This was this morning, early.

We know she has been guarding the Dierksen buildings for several weeks now, and it was plain to see something had denned under them.

Two mornings ago, at 3:30 AM, Gertie came straight up out of the covers, and straddled me, barking.  Then she jumped down and ran up and down the house to the front door.  Keith got up, and then came back in the bedroom, and by that time, it had been permeated with polecat smell.  I actually woke up and asked him why the dogs were out and the skunk was in.  He told me all the dogs were in, and I remember saying "Dont let them out or the skunk will get them".  He told me the next morning he kept trying to tell me they were all in but I was so asleep I couldn't understand.  The smell dissipated and I went back to sleep.

Tonight, Keith went out to burn paper trash, and sat in the truck for a minute listening to a basketball game.  Suddenly, he saw Lil come running around the front of the truck, frantically rubbing her head on the grass.  Once out the door, he realized what had happened and came in to tell me.

We looked up the remedy (mineral oil, baking soda, and hydrogen peroxide with some dish soap thrown in, and he set off to get several bottles of hydrogen peroxide, after going back out to check on poor Lil, who is out in the cold right now.  He came back in once more to tell me she was not as bad as he feared, but we could not bring her in on this cold night, so he is going to bathe her and then bring her in to dry her off.  If we have to, she can sleep in the bathroom, since I can clean that easily.  Tonight is actually supposed to bring warmer temps for a few days, which means Lilly can stay out until the smell is gone. 

I have looked out several times and don't see her, so I think she is probably curled up in her chair, and I suppose we won't have any more skunk accidents from Lil!

It was very cold this morning (you folks up north will laugh)... 23 degrees.  I had to break ice in the fortexes and had tennis shoes on, so my left foot was frozen when I came back in. 

Here were the Frost Llamas as they came up to eat:

That's Fat Azzie, Aztec. She had a good coating of frost on her, as did her mom and dad.  I love her frosty ears.

When I came into the big henhouse, this little girl was on the floor.  It's not one of the Teeny babies, but one of the older little hens, there are four of them.  Rarely do any of the birds sleep on the floor, the domain of the mice at night.  I'll keep my eye on her to try to figure out what's going on. The other birds are still on the roost above the one in the picture, and up in the rafters.

Here they come boiling out of the little henhouse!  Chris got the light adjusted for me last weekend, and we'll soon hook up the line to it.  I actually had to break the ice in the waterer in the henhouse, you can just see it.  They get their treats in the morning now, because it's dark by the time I do evening chores. 

I was still doing chores when daylight arose, and I went around the back of the little henhouse and found a kaffee klatsch taking place in the willow tree.

And finally, a shot of the same birds when I opened the back pophole this morning to break the ice. You notice all the banties are on the right side... the big birds, the Welsummers and Wyandottes, stay on the left side.

They are just the most gorgeous colors!