Well today has certainly been interesting.............!!! When I got up this morning I went in the spa room to water my poor little gardenia that has managed to survive in spite of my brown thumb. I noticed the folding door that covers the washer & dryer was half cocked & I heard shuffling noises. My assumption was one of the cats was in there messing around. I smacked the side of the dryer & a cat would have come flying out.........hmmmmm! I headed for the living room & both cats were there..............hmmmmm! We had a skunk show up a few days ago to help Hobo the outdoor cat eat her dry food, if we don't pick it up when she is finished. For some reason John didn't believe me, until he checked it out himself & saw "something" in the trash can that was now laying on it's side facing the back wall. We didn't do a real close study, but did notice that it was black & white, & the dryer duct was no longer attached to the outside vent, so our assumption was...........SKUNK........!!!! Now what? Our answer to the problem was, shut the inside doors to the spa & open the outside door, hoping our little visitor wouldn't mind leaving in the daylight, even though they are a nocturnal type of weasel.
Martha came today to massage Chester & Max. Courtney came to trim feet on those that needed it. Chester was very good about his feet, & actually stood on his bad leg long enough for her to do a quick job on his other leg. This was the first time Judy the new mule had been trimmed by Courtney, & she did pretty good at least on 3 feet. She decided to make a fuss about one hind leg, but nothing dramatic. Courtney also thinks she is probably Cushings. We're still waiting for the vet to get the correct lab tubes to do the test to make sure before we start her on meds.
The last time Martha was here & worked on Max, he was a big worry wart & couldn't relax, because he didn't know her & wasn't sure what she was going to do to him. This time he relaxed & almost went to sleep on his feet. She said he has a lot of muscles around the area where his neck is broken that are rigid, poor old guy. She got them softened up, although I'm sure they won't stay that way very long.
Chester's primary request was to get his butt scratched, rather than have her work on his front leg & shoulder. If she would try to work on the front leg, he'd turn around & stick his fanny in her face. Finally they reached an agreement & he decided that it felt pretty good to have her work on the bad leg. He has a couple of spots that must be sore. When she worked in those areas, he would act like he was going to bite her.
We told Courtney about the skunk in the spa room, & she decided she had to have a picture of it. I told her if she set off a flash & the skunk REALLY didn't like it, the spa room would probably be off limits for a LONG time. I told her where we'd seen it last, in the trash can, so we all tip toed into the spa room, she took her camera, held it at arm's length in front of the downed trash can & took a picture. No skunk.........!!! Hmmmmmm, now where did it go? I got a step stool so I could look over the back of the washer & dryer. No skunk.......!!!! Courtney was so disappointed.
This morning John had set a live trap in the back yard. We didn't disarm it figured the skunk wouldn't be around during the day. Tonight after dark (we forgot about the set trap), John said the trap had been tripped & the packing blanket we had covered the trap with, so it would look inviting, (we're trying to think like a skunk) was jumping around. Couldn't see what was in there, but it was definately not happy. After a long discussion about, "now what do we do", we decided to just open the trap & let it go rather than trying to "take" it somewhere. Started to go out to open the trap, & there was a skunk walking around the packing blanket............... SO WHAT'S IN THE TRAP?
OK, we decided to "gently" open up the trap & set it, so whatever was in the trap could leave. I held the flash light & John set the trap, using the blanket to hide what we were doing. Went back in the house & flashed a light into the trap thru the door. Seems like we have 2 skunks instead of just one, & the one in the trap is perfectly happy in there I guess, because it "ain't" going anywhere. I went back in to try to finish supper, John comes in & says, "the door on the trap is shut again". I guess the little "stinker" jumped around enough to slam the door shut. New idea........... use a bungee strap to keep the door from shutting. So we went out again, opened the door & hooked up a bungee. Came back in & the other skunk was now finishing off Hobo's dry cat food.
John just checked & the skunk is no longer in the trap & there is no dry food left for them to eat, so they have both disappeared...................for now. John used duct tape to cover the dryer vent for now. If they really wanted in, the duct tape certainly wouldn't stop them, or even slow them down. But since they found no food in here, hopefully they won't come back.
This is the 2nd time we've had something come in thru the dryer vent. We had a momma mouse come in the vent, chewed a hole thru the duct & had her babies somewhere in the spa room or our bedroom. Not a good place with 2 cats patrolling, unfortunately.
Martha came today to massage Chester & Max. Courtney came to trim feet on those that needed it. Chester was very good about his feet, & actually stood on his bad leg long enough for her to do a quick job on his other leg. This was the first time Judy the new mule had been trimmed by Courtney, & she did pretty good at least on 3 feet. She decided to make a fuss about one hind leg, but nothing dramatic. Courtney also thinks she is probably Cushings. We're still waiting for the vet to get the correct lab tubes to do the test to make sure before we start her on meds.
The last time Martha was here & worked on Max, he was a big worry wart & couldn't relax, because he didn't know her & wasn't sure what she was going to do to him. This time he relaxed & almost went to sleep on his feet. She said he has a lot of muscles around the area where his neck is broken that are rigid, poor old guy. She got them softened up, although I'm sure they won't stay that way very long.
Chester's primary request was to get his butt scratched, rather than have her work on his front leg & shoulder. If she would try to work on the front leg, he'd turn around & stick his fanny in her face. Finally they reached an agreement & he decided that it felt pretty good to have her work on the bad leg. He has a couple of spots that must be sore. When she worked in those areas, he would act like he was going to bite her.
We told Courtney about the skunk in the spa room, & she decided she had to have a picture of it. I told her if she set off a flash & the skunk REALLY didn't like it, the spa room would probably be off limits for a LONG time. I told her where we'd seen it last, in the trash can, so we all tip toed into the spa room, she took her camera, held it at arm's length in front of the downed trash can & took a picture. No skunk.........!!! Hmmmmmm, now where did it go? I got a step stool so I could look over the back of the washer & dryer. No skunk.......!!!! Courtney was so disappointed.
This morning John had set a live trap in the back yard. We didn't disarm it figured the skunk wouldn't be around during the day. Tonight after dark (we forgot about the set trap), John said the trap had been tripped & the packing blanket we had covered the trap with, so it would look inviting, (we're trying to think like a skunk) was jumping around. Couldn't see what was in there, but it was definately not happy. After a long discussion about, "now what do we do", we decided to just open the trap & let it go rather than trying to "take" it somewhere. Started to go out to open the trap, & there was a skunk walking around the packing blanket............... SO WHAT'S IN THE TRAP?
OK, we decided to "gently" open up the trap & set it, so whatever was in the trap could leave. I held the flash light & John set the trap, using the blanket to hide what we were doing. Went back in the house & flashed a light into the trap thru the door. Seems like we have 2 skunks instead of just one, & the one in the trap is perfectly happy in there I guess, because it "ain't" going anywhere. I went back in to try to finish supper, John comes in & says, "the door on the trap is shut again". I guess the little "stinker" jumped around enough to slam the door shut. New idea........... use a bungee strap to keep the door from shutting. So we went out again, opened the door & hooked up a bungee. Came back in & the other skunk was now finishing off Hobo's dry cat food.
John just checked & the skunk is no longer in the trap & there is no dry food left for them to eat, so they have both disappeared...................for now. John used duct tape to cover the dryer vent for now. If they really wanted in, the duct tape certainly wouldn't stop them, or even slow them down. But since they found no food in here, hopefully they won't come back.
This is the 2nd time we've had something come in thru the dryer vent. We had a momma mouse come in the vent, chewed a hole thru the duct & had her babies somewhere in the spa room or our bedroom. Not a good place with 2 cats patrolling, unfortunately.
No comments:
Post a Comment