Critters

I figure since I am going to try and stay more current with the blog that I should post some every day, average Johnson Happenings. Well, we seem to have some sort of back woods zoo in our house. We have had three skunks living in our garage this summer. Alan chased two of the skunks out one evening then sealed up the supposed entrances. We went away on vacation and came back to an awful smell in our house. Low and behold, there was still a skunk in our garage...and he had been trapped. So, needless to say, he did all his bathroom stuff in our garage and made himself quite comfortable. Alan tried to chase him out one evening (by the way, skunks are very docile creatures), and he kept running back in. I suggested we call the game warden, but Alan was certain that this skunk had seen its last day (he was not too happy to clean up all the pee and poop in the garage). Our friends came over for the day and Mark and Alan went to business. They finally succeeded, but the skunk did spray right before it died, and that is the most PUTRID thing I have ever smelled!!!! It is nothing like the skunk you smell on the side of the road (for those of you who don't know)...it is a very chemical smell that makes you dry heave....yes, all of us, including the children...oh wait....except Alan because he cannot smell. He kept saying, "I don't know what your problem is...I can't smell anything." Mark and Alan gave the skunk a proper burial, and now my house still stinks...nearly 3 weeks later.

So then, we come home from Alan's parents house after an evening of fun and food! I lay Jeremie in his bed, and something flutters above my head, I look up to see this furry little bat land on his curtain rod. Daddy caught it in a box, and we had science 101 at 9:00 at night. It was actually very cute and fascinating. We watched it for a good 45 minutes then let it go to eat all the bugs. We are still trying to figure out how it got in the house.
Then, today I went outside to greet 4 turkeys in my backyard. The kids came running out to see them, and I went in to get the camera but by the time I got back outside they were already leaving the yard for the safety of the woods. You never know what you will see in your house or yard when you live in a rural maine town.