Oooh, what's that smell?

Late last night, I was awakened by a strong odor and Whipper carrying on.  In my sleepy fog, it took me a while to identify the smell.  I knew it, just couldn't put my finger on it right away.  Oh yeah...skunk.  It wasn't wake-up-choking strong, that's actually happened to me before.  Many years ago, I awoke gagging with streaming eyes because something that had been sprayed was right under my bedroom window which was open because it was a warm night.  There is nothing like being that close to skunk spray!  Last night was more like the sorta burnt odor you catch in your car when you go by roadkill.  In fact, when I first woke up to it, I was trying to place it as something burning.  It was still strong enough that the skunk must have been very close to my house which is closed up because it's cold out.

Since the odor wasn't debilitating and eventually faded, I think it was coming from the skunk itself (they often carry the odor), not actual spray.  I was worried Whipper had been sprayed but luckily not.  I don't think he has any experience with skunks, and I really hope the odor made him think twice about messing with it.

When I was touring houses with my real estate agent, the subject of wildlife pests came up.  She said skunks were the main ones.  Turns out that wasn't the case where I settled in.  Raccoons and coyotes are the main pests here.  This is the first time there's been any evidence of skunk in the 8 years I've been here.  Really hope it was just passing through.

Here's another skunky story from my past.  I was living in a single-wide mobile home.  We had built skirting from T1-11 (grooved plywood) and tacked fiberglass insulation to the inside.  This was Michigan, you needed every bit of help against frozen pipes.  We included a couple of access doors in the skirting because you do need to get under there.  I used to store stuff in the one in back.  One day I opened it to put some stuff in and was shocked to see a skunk curled up all cozy in the insulation it had pulled down!  Whoa!  It sleepily looked up at me and I immediately shut the door before it woke up fully.  It left, I think that night, and I scattered mothballs in that space and any other access points I found in the skirting.  Mothballs really do work to repel many pests.

Another time, my neighbors were all excited when I came home from work because they saw a skunk and 3 little ones go under my house.  They insisted I get the park manager to set a live trap.  I said oh no...I DO NOT want to piss off a mother skunk under my house!  Since this happened in broad daylight, I was sure she'd take her little family elsewhere after dark and I was right.

I posted this to Facebook, but I'll talk about it more here.

This is a better chicken feeder.  I've seen variations of this online, and one guy on Craiglist was selling them for $35.  I made it for about $18.  It's 2" PVC pipe and fittings.  I wonder if anyone wondered what I was doing in Lowes as I picked and tried parts to see what would work.

It was my hope that it would minimize waste and it did.  The hopper style feeder I was using just wasn't very efficient that way.  Too much feed ended up on the ground, and to force the birds to clean it up, I had to leave the feeder empty for a day.  This rig is harder for them to scatter it around.  I used my little Dremel tool to cut the holes and sand the edges smooth.  The 45 degree elbow is attached with a couple screws in each end because the weight caused it to fall off.  I didn't glue it so I could take it apart if necessary.  I left the end fitting loose to make cleanout easier.  There's holes drilled in the bottom for drainage in case water gets in it.

I added this fitting to the top to serve as a funnel.  There's a heavy end cap sitting inside although it might not really be necessary.  I thought it would help with any rain that might hit it since it doesn't go all the way up under the roof.  Rain doesn't usually drive in from that East side.

I had to make an adjustment in the design since I took these pix.  Feed wasn't coming down on its own.  I had to reach into the elbow with a tool to scrape it down into the feeder part.  It was about the angle.  I added a block behind the top to create more incline in both ends.  I also recut the hole at the elbow so the birds could reach the feed laying at the bottom of the elbow.  That fixed that, it's now coming down properly.

Not much going on with the bunnies.  I have a litter due from a 1st-timer but so far no signs she's nesting.  The rest are due next week.  I had to pass on Spartanburg because of the ice storm.  I've only missed it one other time due to weather, and that time the club cancelled it because of the snow that happened over the whole region.  I heard they delayed it a couple hours this year to give everyone more time to be safe on the roads.  I believe all of us Tennesseans opted out rather than risk icy mountains.

It was a good thing I stayed home.  I don't remember this much accumulated ice since I've been here.  It's usually either rain or snow...too warm or too cold for freezing rain.  I expected the power to go out but happily it didn't.

I'm going to try for Fairview the end of this month, and definitely Dalton next month.  My favorite jr doe (Fairlane) went senior weight but I still like her a lot so I do want to show her and her sis at some point soon.  Fairlane might be a BUD but I don't think so.  She's not humongous and her ears are 2".  I think she's just a big boned gal which is a good thing.

Even though it's been a relatively mild winter, I've had enough cold.

39 days until spring!

tnt