The sweet smell of skunk!

As you may have been able to guess by the title of this blog, I have a skunk story. It begins a little like this, actually exactly like this. The day is August 30, the time 9;55 pm. I put to dogs in my back yard. A yard that has a 6 foot tall chain link fence around it. A yard I feel is safe from predators. There is a light in my back yard, some might call it a street lamp, I don't because there are no streets around it, but it does light up my yard. On with the story. I go to brush my teeth, wash my face and get really for sleep. My bathroom window is open, so when the dogs start barking I hear them immediately. Their barks don't alarm me, as I said I feel my yard is a safe place. But I knew the instant I smelled the skunk that their barking had caused this foul odder. I quickly dried my face and hurried to the back door. I can see the skunks tail standing straight up behind my 6 foot chain link fence and my dogs barking feverishly at the varmint who dared to get to close to our yard. I know it is to late, my momma dog comes running to me, mouth watering and, for lack of a better word, foaming. The puppy, who is a year old now, continues to bark, even as I beg for her to come to me. The skunk is unfazed by their noise and continues to be doing whatever it is that he was doing before he was bothered by my pack. My yelling does not even disturb this creature of the night. I then venture out into to safety of my yard to collect the biggest rocks I can find. I hurl them at the skunk, only to be disappointed as they hit the fence or fly to far over the fence missing the target. Still the skunk will not budge. I consider the guns for a brief, let me emphasize brief, moment, I don't even know how to shot the guns. So I go for the next best thing, the hose! No animals wants to get wet. Success at last! I was a little disappointed that I didn't get to soak my pest, he ran as soon as the first drop hit him.

Needless to say, my dogs slept outside last night. Now today I must see if tomato juice will really get the smell of skunk out of dog fur!

Loose screws

Have you even been sweeping and you find a screw where a screw does not belong? On your floor with no apparent hole from which it came. You put the lost screw some place safe, just in case you ever find where it belongs. Then a month later your kitchen chair starts to fall apart because it is missing a screw. Good, you think, because you kept the screw and now you can fix your wobbly chair, you think. When you look in your safe place you realize it was not a safe place, it was a place with a portal to an alternate universe, because that is the only explanation to where your screw went. No way a child would have found your screw and decided to do what ever it is that kids do with things they are not suppose to play with, no, no way your kids would do that! So that is where I am this morning, no not the alternate universe, the place where you are trying to find a screw to fit into your kitchen chair.

Home again

The kids and I made it safely home from Phoenix last night. We had a wonderful weekend with Arnold. Swimming, shopping, and eating out. I think it is much cheaper for him to come visit us than the other way around! They did need clothes for school, which unbelievably starts next week. I will have all three in school this year. Wow, is all I can say. Well I could probably say a lot more, but not tonight!
I took my placement test last Thursday, I did great on the reading and writing portion. My math was better than I thought it would be, but not good enough to get me into a college level algebra. I need to score a 40, I got a 38, bummer. The good news is that I can take that part of the test again, and I placed in the developmental math 102, not 101. I don't have to start at the very bottom. I think I will buy the book and just refresh what I once upon a time knew. I can't take the class on-line, which is all I am planning on doing for now. It is not a good idea to decide to go the college in July when classes start in August, all the classes that I need to take are full. So I will take what I can for now. I am sure my brain will appreciate easing into learning again, rather than trying to go full force all at once.