Summer is for - SKUNKS! (July 2014)

Boris

After a long, cold, snowy winter, followed by a long, chilly, wet spring, it is finally HOT!  So AT LAST we are again able to run outside in the morning and do all the fun things we do every summer!

Tessa, Hershey

Farah

 If you look closely at the following picture, you can see Tess staring out the window:

Boris, Tessa in the windows, Summer Cat

Taffy

clockwise, from Farah at the top: Boris, Hershey, Summer

Cocoa

Natasha, Dandy

Tootsie

  The neighbors behind us have built a tall fort that is SO fun to climb:

Boris

Dolly

Hershey

And in our pen, there is a watering hole that Pat fills with fresh water every morning:

Summer

Pat has been saying that she thinks we are a bit better behaved this year than in past years: we stay closer to home and some of us even come inside when she calls us.

Taffy

Pat thinks that maybe we are becoming more "mature." (Which doesn't sound like all that much fun to us, actually.)

But today something happened that made Pat think, perhaps we are not such good cats after all . . . in fact, Pat says that this morning we were very BAD!

Natasha

Here is how it all started.

We were playing in the back yard when suddenly, Dan (on the right, in the picture below) spotted a big, beautiful SKUNK (on the left):

We were all so excited that we came running to get a better look (CLICK the picture to enlarge it):

In no time at all, we had the Skunk surrounded.

And then - the Skunk lifted her tail! She STAMPED her feet!

Pat started calling for us to get away, QUICKLY!

But we stood our ground, until -- the Skunk turned tail and scurried off!

The Skunk ducked underneath the deck of our next door neighbor! And naturally, we followed:

In fact - Dandy and Cocoa went right underneath the deck after the Skunk!

Pat was SO alarmed at the thought of Dan and Cocoa being confined with the Skunk in such a small place . . . but then . . . the Skunk calmly strolled out from under the deck, observed by Tessa and Dolly:

The Skunk headed around the corner and across the front of the next door neighbor's yard:

So of course we hurried after her:

 

 

Which is when Pat gave up and ran away herself!

Pat was SO relieved when, one by one, we each came wandering back. . . .

Pat told us that the Skunk has more sense than we do!

Tessa

Then Pat said that any cat who gets sprayed by the Skunk will have to take a bath in hydrogen peroxide + baking soda!

And that's not all: any cat who gets sprayed will have to live full time in the pen, not coming into the house until the bad smell disappears!

Dandy, Cocoa

Which leaves us wondering: is it worth the risk to continue playing with the Skunk?

Maybe!

Boris

To be continued .....

Hershey

Summer

UPDATE - July 29

every morning (between 6 and 6:30 a.m), Pat puts on our collars and we DASH out into the yard, eager to see if we can find Skunk!

And on two different mornings in the week following our first encounter, we did find Skunk, poking about in one or another of the groves.

As a result of Skunk's poking, lots of tasty insects flew into the sky -- insects which we chased and caught and ate!

Pat says she is very happy that Skunk made the choice to ignore us completely.

But we were NOT so happy -- because -- we wanted Skunk to play with us!

Dan was particularly insistent. He repeatedly dashed right up to Skunk. He jumped up and down in front of her, he ran in circles around her . . . hoping that Skunk would respond: it would have been SO much fun if Skunk had decided to CHASE Dan!

but all Skunk did was turn her back on Dan and wander off in a different direction . . . still poking in the leaves for insects ....

which gratified Pat but not us ....

And now it has been several days since we saw Skunk.

Pat warned us this would happen:  she said Skunk would move out of the neighborhood if we didn't stop pestering her!

we are still hoping that one of these mornings Skunk will change her mind and re-join us in the back yard ....