Skunked!

 Small animals such as squirrels, porcupines, weasels, and raccoons abound on our country mile.  We often encountered squirrels in our previous life, in town that is, but out here in the forest small wildlife can pop up in some unexpected places.

After we had lived a year here in our rural paradise, it fell to us to host my family’s annual summer gathering.  We had a lovely day with our town and city dwelling relatives and took pride in showing off our acreage, from the tall pines in the front portion of our property to the marshy land and the creek at the rear.

 

Asked about the wildlife we had encountered in our first year, we were only too happy to recount tales of deer, raccoons, and even several visits from bears.  My Dad commented that we were lucky we hadn’t encountered a skunk yet and warned us that we were approaching the time of year when young skunks leave their parents and begin to roam the countryside in search of food before their winter hibernation.

“Oh,” I said confidently, “we haven’t even smelled a hint of skunk in this whole year we’ve lived here.  I don’t think there are any around this area.”  Dad only smiled.

By early evening everyone had left for their homes and within a few minutes my husband and I were relaxing in the sunroom.  All at once our German Shepherd set up an incredible din in the garage where we had shut her in to eat her supper.

“Maybe someone forgot something and came back for it,” said my husband, as he moved toward the front door.  Curious, I headed for the picture window which gave me a view of the driveway, as well as, if I looked to the side, our front steps.  “I don’t see a vehicle,” I remarked and turned to look at the front step, just as my husband opened the front door to look out.

 

“There’s a skunk at the door,” I shouted, at the same moment as my husband opened it, took one startled look at the top step, and slammed the door shut again.  From the garage Lady howled her frustration that she couldn’t chase the intruder away and I fully expected the now obviously panicked little creature to spray our steps, the front door, and all the house siding in the vicinity.

My husband joined me at the window and we held our breaths to see what the little animal would do next.  It turned to retreat, peered down over the top step, and backed away.  When it repeated the maneuver several times, we realized it was only a baby and didn’t know how to get back down the steps it must have scampered up hurriedly when Lady’s barking startled it.

It took that adorable baby (baby skunks really are cute) nearly an hour to make its way down the steps and amble away, so we had lots of time to watch and hope it didn’t get so irritated by Lady’s continuing vocal threats that it would decide to do something to stop her noise.  As soon as the skunk was finally gone, I just had to call my Dad.  “You knew we’d get a visit from a skunk sooner or later,” I told him, “but I’ll bet you didn’t expect it to come politely to the front door!”