Here little skunky, skunky, skunky

Several weeks ago, as Nate was getting ready for work one morning, he heard the chickens outside making a huge racket. It was still dark outside (5am) and they never usually make a peep until after sunup, so he knew something was wrong. I was in the kitchen packing lunches and was a little shocked to see him go flying outside wearing nothing but a towel around his waist yelling that some animal was trying to kill the chickens. When he got outside, he could see something standing by the chicken coop, but he couldn't tell what it was because he had left his glasses in the house. (At least he remembered to grab a towel!) So he scared it away and as it ran up past the back door, I saw that it was a skunk. It ran back down past Nate and into the night, and it's a really good thing it didn't spray him because I was fully prepared to lock all the doors (towel or no towel) and pass him some tomato juice through the window. Ever since that day, he has been setting up his animal trap out by the chicken coop every night. He was so excited the day he found he had caught the skunk...until he realized that he had to figure out a way to get the skunk out of the cage...without getting sprayed...

So his brother Andy came over, and they snuck up really slowly with the garbage can tipped on it's side, and with some long sticks they scooted the skunk cage into the garbage can, shut the lid, and ran. They were sooo lucky, the skunk didn't spray until after the lid was shut. I was up on the porch with my camera, expecting them to get sprayed. Once again, I was prepared to run inside and lock the doors. But the whole thing was pretty uneventful. They went back later and tipped the garbage can up, and filled it with water to drown the skunk.

This is the nasty dead skunk being flipped back into the garbage can for a proper burial.