I know it’s been awhile. I haven’t traveled nearly as much as I used to the past couple years, so travel stories haven’t been as abundant.
However, I’ve realized even when life isn’t in the clouds, my Life On The Ledge still has things to share. Although the characters are different, the entertainment value is still strong.
So back by popular demand (or no demand at all) the all new view from my Life on the Ledge!
This story starts in the black of night.
Right before I’m headed off to bed, my trusty four footed companions decide to do their excited dance at the door. I figure the chances are about 90/10 that the dance is due to some uninvited visitor in the yard vs upset tummies that were going to wake me up in the middle of the night with the need to use the bathroom. I hesitate for a minute, but decide that despite the low odds, I really did not want to be woken up in the middle of the night, so I opened the door and let them out.
As soon as the door opened and they took off around the garage, I knew I played the wrong odds.
Sure enough, their run was soon accompanied by their “Oh, look! A new friend!” bark.
I gave it a minute or two, then called for them to come back in. Not only did they not appear, but I recognized their “Hey look! We want to show you what we found!” barks, so I grabbed my flashlight and decided to go look so we could all go to bed.
I came around the garage and the flashlight found the pups hanging out in front of the chicken coop.
Followed quickly by lighting the black and white fluffy friend running around inside the chicken run.
Luckily, when I gave a quick yell to the pups, they came running back to the house with me, and I decided our little skunk friend could show himself out.
Apparently, Pavi’s experience last year getting sprayed in the mouth by a skunk (Yes. Directly. In. The. Mouth) was enough for him to learn to leave the black and white kitties alone and he had avoided the spray.
Ember, however, had not had the chance to learn that lesson.
She seemed to only have gotten a glancing blow on her neck, though, which I quickly scrubbed with dish soap and vinegar before it could set in, and the smell remained quite mild, considering.
Bullet dodged.
So off to bed we go to a great night sleep.
Bright and early the next morning, we’re downstairs and ready to start the day.
Somehow, even before my coffee, my brain kicks in enough for me to think maybe I should just go double check that our guest had made his way back to his own home over night before I let the dogs out.
I was really glad I did, because sure enough, as the chicken coop comes into view, there is our Oreo colored friend, still running back and forth in the run.
Hmm. Why did he choose to stick around? Surely there are more exciting places to explore than my chicken run.
The chickens had dug a hole in the corner of the run, which I had covered with chicken wire to keep them from escaping, and I realize Oreo had pushed up under the wire from the outside to get in. But now that he was in, he was standing on the wire, so couldn’t burrow back under it to get out , so now he was trapped.
Which means now I have to get close enough to the coop to let him out.
My run has two sections to it, a larger one and a smaller one. Both sections have doors in them, and since Oreo is currently running back and forth in the smaller section, I decide my best bet is to open the door in the larger section.
So I very slowly make my way towards the door, keeping my eye on Oreo the whole way.
At first, he is too focused on his panicked pacing to notice me, but just as I get into range to touch the door, he stops and looks at me.
So I stop and look at him.
I figure as long as I’m seeing the two-eyed side of him, I’m safe. It’s the one-eyed side I need to avoid.
So I keep my eyes on him and slowly reach out and open the door.
Once I get it open, I quickly retreat around the corner of the barn, and watch from a safe distance.
But Oreo has just resumed his frantic pacing along the back stretch and seems unaware his path to freedom is behind him.
That’s fine. I’ll go inside, get some breakfast and coffee, and surely he’ll be gone by the time I’m done.
Except he isn’t.
I load the dogs into the car for our morning walk and go to check, and Oreo is still doing his military march on the back of the chicken run.
Now what?
I decide maybe I need to open the door that is closer to his pacing path.
And also about 3 ft from Oreo’s business end.
I find one of Pavi’s strategically placed, enormous sticks lying between me and the coop (Now I realize he wasn’t creating a mowing obstacle course, but a home defense system!), so I grab it and again slowly advance into the danger zone.
I use the stick to flip the latches on the door, but I can’t get the right angle to pull the door open with it, so I have no choice but to creep in and pull the door open.
But I make it! And now Oreo has a clear escape path just 3 ft behind him.
I take the dogs for our walk, and when we get back an hour later, this time I’m sure Oreo has moved on.
And yet again, I’m wrong.
Not only is Oreo still pacing the perimeter, one of the chickens, who had still been shut up in the inside coop, had somehow let herself out, and was now pacing around with our black and white friend.
2 doors standing wide open to the outside world, and both of them are just getting their steps in the cage.
Obviously time to regroup.
Oreo is now in the larger run area, but also under the inside coop. As far from the doors as it is possible to get. The chicken is hanging out by the open door, so I figure I need to shut the doors and figure out how to corral Matilda before I can continue trying to encourage Oreo to move on.
I decide if I can try to corral Matilda in the smaller area I might be able to grab her and remove her from the equation, so I go get some grain and throw it down in that area to lure her in.
Sure enough, she takes the bait.
But as soon as I open the little door to try to nab her, she squawks and runs the other way.
Straight at Oreo. And straight into his smelly shower.
Somehow, I still avoid becoming collateral damage, but now Matilda is not happy and squawking and flapping, and Oreo is even more agitated.
Perfect conditions to continue with Plan Rescue.
Matilda finally calms down enough to go back to the grain and I’m able to grab her.
So now I’m standing hugging a skunk stink chicken.
Somewhere along my quest of collecting useless trivia, I had remembered hearing that once a skunk sprays, they are unable to spray again until their supplies replenish, so I had googled that earlier in the morning to see if I might be able to use that to my advantage, knowing he had sprayed the dogs last night.
While it is true, they can actually spray 5-6 times before they deplete their supply.
So I do debate, for a minute, whether I should just throw the chicken at Oreo 4 more times to run him dry, but quickly decide I’m unlikely to come out of that plan unscathed.
I stuff Matilda back in the coop through the nest boxes and reach in and lock the door so none of the other girls get the bright idea of trying to join the party.
Then I swing the outside doors wide open again.
Meanwhile, Oreo continues his frantic marching.
Now what?
I grab what is left of my blackberries from the fridge and again venture back to the danger zone. I toss a handful of berries back towards Oreo and then strew the rest of them to the door and out.
There. Plan Hansel and Gretel is sure to work.
I head inside to give Oreo the room he needs.
An hour or so later, I again make my way out to the chicken coop. Only to see Oreo still running back and forth.
Really??
I had already tried a stick to attempt to prod Oreo towards the exit, but it wasn’t very effective through the wire of the run.
Which is how I find myself doing something I never thought I would be doing .
Throwing rocks at a skunk.
Oreo is still pacing as far away from the door as possible, so I start throwing rocks at the coop near Oreo to get him to move in the other direction.
And it works! Oreo runs to the other end of the run- right past the two open doors (and over all the blackberries) and resumes pacing on the other end.
Old Oreo is proving to be a formidable opponent.
Apparently Oreo is only going to go out the same way he came in.
Except now Oreo is pacing directly over the entry point.
So now I’m throwing rocks again to get Oreo back to the other end he just came from.
Once he is safely back at the far end- again- I move in, tug the wire out from the bottom of the run, prop up the corner with a piece of wood, and move in for the final volley.
Back to the other end of the run to throw rocks-again- to move Oreo back to his chance at freedom.
Finally!
Oreo gets back to open corner, slips back out under the coop, and disappears under the fence.
And I survived 3 hours of battle with a skunk without getting sprayed once.
Victory!
Hopefully chickens don’t have a strong sense of smell, because their coop was not so lucky.