Our Saturday surprise

Yesterday evening when I got home I was hurrying around a little because I wanted to get some work done outside the shop on the south wall I just put up – replacing a tarp with an actual wall. In getting it sealed against the wind I did not get it sealed against the rain very well. At the time I was not sure what to do to get it weatherproofed without it looking cobbled up.

Since then I was able to pick up some left over metal pieces from the roofing that was installed on the house next to our church. One of those pieces was exactly what I needed. Let’s just pray it is enough. I also set attached a piece of metal siding that was long enough to cover the top of the wall where there had been a little rain getting in when it blew in from the south. We will get a good test today if the rain that is predicted actually makes it to us.

Last Saturday I had intended to get Mama to help me put the insulation Grandpa and I had removed from the well tank back on the line and the tank. When we got to the well house there were several piles of poop inside. I remarked to Mama that something must have found refuge during the recent heavy rains. That something was still in the well house under the insulation we had cast off of the tank.

When I lifted it up there was a skunk sleeping under it. I jumped back out of the well house in case it was startled enough to spray me but it was groggy – as if I wakened it from a very deep sleep. So I went to the house and got my pistol. When I got back it was still in the well house in a very good position for me to dispatch it without damaging any of the parts of the well or waterline. It only took one shot.

Last night I went to the well house to get it out before it started to decay. Needless to say it had anointed the well house and the fragrance was pretty overpowering, but I got it on a shovel and moved it away from anywhere that would interfere with us working in the well house or nearby pasture.

Misty came over to see what was going on. She is a very curious little filly and will not leave a person alone if she is in the same paddock with them. True to form she was very curious about the shovel and its contents.

I was dragging it behind me to keep out of the smell – which seemed to wash over me no matter how I tried to carry it with the dead skunk resting on it. Misty got very close as I was dragging along and the skunk slipped off of the shovel. It stopped. Misty was not that quick and she rammed her nose into the skunk.
She jumped like a goat when she came into contact with the smelly carrion. She carried on for several minutes trying to get the scent out of her nostrils. She snorted over and over. She rubbed her nose on the ground several times. I think she finally got rid of the most noxious of the odor because she calmed down and resumed following me to where I deposited the smelly burden.

I can only hope that the rain and warm days ahead break down the carcass without too much more of that wonderful perfume gracing us.