Barn & Skunks

Our new barn is nearly finished. We burned our brand into the door that is visible from the roadway. The door on the other end has the brand in 3-D. What a wonderful space for us. We planted hay this week and hopefully we will get some rain. The plan is to fill this lovely barn with hay to get us through next year.

Ben continues to hunt skunks. I'm not sure why he hates them so much, but I figure his "perfume" will become permanent soon. We have seen nothing but skunks, skunks, skunks dead on the roads lately. Since I am always curious, I googled to find out why:
by La Follette veterinary Services; Dr. Bill Sanders
April 1st, 2011
"All those dead skunks are not due to mass suicide or disease. To understand why the roads are covered with dead skunks a little understanding of skunk biology is necessary.
The most common type of skunk in our area is the stripped skunk. These are common animals, but seldom seen since they are nocturnal. This means they do most their eating, drinking and reproducing after dark. During the day they sleep in underground dens or burrows. They eat almost anything from insects and worms to trash and pet food. Since they have very poor vision and can’t see for more than a few feet, they locate each other and food by their sense of smell. Most importantly,skunks are seasonally reproductive. After the first of the year, the increasing daylight and warming temperatures turns a little gear in their brains that tells them this is the season to reproduce. As spring comes around the weather warms up and there is a prolific bounty of insects and plants from which they can feed their babies.
So, skunks come out from their long winter slumber with a powerful appetite and an urge to make babies. It is these behaviors that puts them on the roads late at night. They are roaming about looking for a mate and something to eat. They are just doing their skunk thing, what comes natural, when along comes a car that they just can’t see and well, the rest of the story you know."

I hope your new year is good (or at least better than last year).


"Sometimes when you get in a fight with a skunk, you can't tell who started it."
Lloyd Doggett