Good morning readers. Thanks for coming by for a read this morning. I appreciate you.
We’ve been blessed with some moisture the past couple of days and the ground’s soft enough I might be obliged to cancel my trip to Kerrville for groceries and cat food. Not at all sure that car will make it up the hill until things dry enough to give the tires some purchase.
When I went out to turn the chickens loose this morning I found I’d offended a skunk who’d been trying to take advantage of things by digging under the wall of the chicken-house several places. Because it happens occasionally, and a skunk, or coon will kill every chicken it can corner, I’d laid out chains along the bottoms of the walls with treble-hooks attached. Evidently this was a new skunk, or [if an old one] it had forgotten the last time it tried this.
Underneath that wall is limestone, most places, but there are a few places were a determined predator could get underneath if it got past the treble-hooks. This one didn’t. Left a tuft of hair, a bit of paw-hide and a stink enough to have the chickens overly anxious to get the hell out of Dodge in a hurry.
Maybe some things are worse than having your life saved.
Incidently, all that erosion control stuff I was doing for a while’s performing a lot better than I expected. Lots of that cedar’s now buried in silt. This place must have been losing tons of soil every time it rained for longer than anyone alive has any business remembering.
Damned cattle were eating their seed corn without a thought. Same as the rest of us.
Old Jules
So Far From Heaven 
Laughing, “same as the rest of us”!
elroyjones: Tends to play out that way. Gracias, J
Now that is a nifty way to get rid of skunks. I used more common methods. Can’t tell you how many I dispatched with a 22 rifle or 20 gauge shot gun in the middle of the night when my hens and roosters made a fuss. Usually after I had lost one. The have a heart trap was much nicer as a plastic bag over it and they died from the heat not leaving their calling card in the process.
Most of the trimmings from trees and bushes are used on the slopes to retain my land when those rare rains send it rushing down the hills. I’m sure in the 40+ years on this place it is several feet shorter than when I moved here.
The rains have greened things up here. Always a blessing to the plants even though sometimes an inconvenience to us. Hope it dries up enough for you to make it out before you or your critters are suffering from lack of supplies. To bad the cows aren’t any smarter than the average voter. Blessings.
Mary: The method was long in developing. Glad you got some rain. Jules