Oh, fer Pete's sake!

Caught another skunk last night. I asked Sunny if this one was an adult. He allowed as how it was another teen-aged skunk. This would make a litter of seven - eight skunks in all. I had no idea we were being over-run with skunks.

The big questions is how many more are out there?

Sunny didn't leave a trap today. Mostly so that he wouldn't have to come out on Sunday to collect whatever wildlife would surely stumble into the trap. He suggested moving the cat bowls to a higher location since skunks don't climb.

Now I'll have to come up with some contraption for moving the cat food higher. Thinking cap engaged.

Hope everyone's having an awesome, skunk-free weekend.

Busy Week

It's been a hectic week. Mostly because of work, but other things have been going on too.

Had a great time at the class with Susan Greening Davis. Our project involved a Longaberger basket to use for a project basket and the accessories for it. It should be darling when it's done.

Sunday, another little skunk showed up and rattles the kitty food bowls. I called Sunny on Monday. He came out to place another trap and we caught the little stinker overnight. Tuesday, he came to get the skunk and replace the trap. We didn't catch anything on Tuesday night, but we caught a tabby cat Wednesday night.

This was a cat I hadn't seen around before so it was probably a neighbor's that got out and just had a misadventure. I've never seen anything move as fast as that tabby flying out of the trap when I opened the door. That kitty will probably never come anywhere close to my porch again.

Thursday night we caught a 'possum. I'd seen a mama possum and a couple of little ones around before so this wasn't a total surprise. Sunny came out today to take the possum to it's new home out in the wild and left us another trap. I'm really not sure how many more critters there are to catch.

The game seems to have changed so I'll change the scoring system to just a tabulation. Skunks: 7 (mama + 6 skunklets or kits if you wanna be technical about it). Opossums: 1. Cats: 1. Sunny's made seven trips to the wildlife refuge (one trip was a twofer) to relocate these critters to a place where they will be much happier.

Skunk Drama and Other Stuff

For the past couple of nights, I'd been taking in the cat food bowls in hopes of getting Mama Skunk to go for the grape jelly in the trap.

Yesterday, the guy that mows the lawn managed to get grass clippings in the cat food bowls on the porch. Without thinking, I tossed the cat food out onto the lawn. Then, I refilled the bowls for the feral kitties.

After dark, I happened to look out and saw Mama Skunk eating the cat food off the lawn. I called Sunny and asked if I should move the trap from the porch (close to where the food bowls usually are but aren't since I took them in) down to the lawn where Mama Skunk was eating the discarded food. He said that sounded like a good idea. Mama Skunk ran away when I went outside to move the trap. I added a bit more food on the ground below the trap and waited.

It wasn't long until Mama Skunk came back and happily munched all around the trap -- but didn't go in. *sigh* I added a bit more food around the opening of the trap, covered it with black plastic, went to bed and hoped for the best.



I got up at 5:45am to check the trap and, if necessary, move it up to the porch to get it out of the direct sun. To my delight, the trap had been sprung! Yeah! Got a skunk! I called Sunny to come get Mama Skunk and carried the trap, still covered with plastic, up to the porch.



Sunny came on over. Imagine my surprise when he said, "You know there's two skunks in there?" Yes, we had Mama Skunk and skunklet #5. Holy moly! I had no idea there were so many! He said that five was an average sized litter and that this may be all of them. He didn't leave a trap this time, but said that if more show up, just give him a call.



On the assumption that this is all the skunks, the final score is Sunny 6, Skunks 1. Go Team Sunny & Trapper Jack!

There've been a lot of skunk drama lately, but I've been crafty, too.

A couple of weeks ago some of my stitching buddies got together for some noms, stitching and playing Stitchopoly (basicly Monopoly for stitcher).



While there, I gave AB a belated birthday present: a purse I'd made from thrifted Girls' size 10 Old Navy culottes and a L.L.Bean Ladies' size L sleeveless blouse and some purse handles bought from Jo Ann's. It was an interesting exercise trying to figure out a pattern and how to use the blouse the best ways to get the lining and pockets done. In the end, there were just a handful of small pieces left. AB really enjoyed the bag but wanted to add another pocket. So I gave her what scraps where left and she took care of adding that pocket on her own.







This cute notebook was a Make-it-and-take-it project from a Moonlight stitching get-together at the LNS last year (or was it two?). I'd never gotten around to finishing it but did so recently. A simple, yet charming, design stitched on banding and then closed with herringbone stitch on the inside - which doubles for a needlepark. Something like that would make a great little gift for a crafty buddy, or just for anyone actually. Who doesn't need a notebook from time to time? The kloster block are just perfect for a bit of fancy Hardanger work. Hmm, I may just do that. If so, I'll post pictures




I've really been busy finishing things I'd started and never completed. Lately, it's been a lot of projects from my favorite designer, Susan Greening Davis. I just adore this project. Isn't that a wonderful sentiment? I don't know about you, but I feel most complete when I'm creating and I love creating with a needle.



I finished the banding for the box that was created in the tutorial for the lined box with pincushion. The banding was from a Susan Greening Davis project that I tweaked a bit.



Saturday I'll be attending a class taught by Susan. I'm really looking forward to it as I learn wonderful techniques and stitches from her everytime I'm with her. If you ever get a chance to take one of her classes, go for it. She's such a wonderful, dear person and a great teacher.

This was the project for last year's class. Most of the actual needlework was done last year, but there were still a few small things to be stitched and the final finishing. I finished it this week -- just in time for the next class.



The needle book is my own design. The needle on the cover is secured by Jewel-It glue so it's not going anywhere.



Here's something you don't see every day:



This is the odometer from my 1995 Subaru Legacy Wagon on my way home from the office this past Thursday. With the exception of the 63 miles that were on there when Pookie and I bought it in September of 1994, and a couple of thousand miles Pookie's probably put on it over the years, I've driven most of that mileage. I'm on my way back from the Moon and still getting around 30 MPG. Not bad for a car that's almost 16 years old, no?

Updated Score

The new score is Sunny 4, Skunks 1.

Last evening, upon hearing the outside food bowls rattling, I peeked out the window in the front door and saw Mama Skunk finishing off the last of the cat food. After getting a drink of water, she waddled past the trap -- not even giving it a glance -- and down the steps she went and off into the night. Score 1 for the Skunks.

I put out a bit more food and immediately Ginger came up on the porch to eat, so that was a good thing. A while later, though, I heard a cat commotion and found Tabby-with-the-white-feet (a cat that lives down the street but likes to eat our food) giving Ginger a hard time about the food, so I brought the bowl in.

This morning Patches and Ginger were both looking in the trap with guarded interest. Sho'nuff, there was yet another teenaged skunk in the trap. I had no idea there were this many! Sunny's escorting this little stinker to the wildlife refuge to join his/her brothers/sisters and start a family reunion in the woods.

Tonight, I'll try to bring the food in before Mama Skunk comes by and see if the grape jelly won't tempt her into the trap.

Stinker Update

Well, the Cute Litte Stinker Roundup has begun. So far the score is Sunny 3, Skunks 0.

I contacted Trapper Jack wildlife removal service on Friday. Sunny Rippetoe came out and set up two humane live traps. Friday night/Saturday morning we caught one teenage skunk. Sunny came out, retreived the first skunk and reset another trap. Saturday night/Sunday morning we caught two teenage skunks. Sunny came out again to get the skunks and reset the trap hoping to catch Mama Skunk. Didn't catch Mama last night, didn't catch any thing, but I expected Mama Skunk to be a bit more wiley. We'll see how long she can resist the grape jelly that's being used as bait.

Sunny is taking the skunks far, far away from their my home and relocating them in an approved wildlife area close to a river. They should be much happier there than in my neighborhood where they can be run over by a car.

Cute Little Stinker

There are several feral kitties that depend on me for food and water. Two main ones and some that come by occassionally. Therefore, there is usually kitten chow and water on my front porch. One of the drawbacks to this is that I end up feeding animals I did not intend to feed. Like possums. And skunks. Currently, a family of skunks.



A couple of weeks ago, there was a commontion (with lots of squeaking) on the front porch. I went to the door to see what was going on. There was mama skunk and two young skunks. The youngsters seemed to be bickering over the kitten chow.

If you turn on the porch light and open the door, the skunks (and possums) usually leave quickly with no problem. This night, however, mama and skunklet #1 left right away. Number 2 had a different idea and came over to me. Stopping about 18 inches away, just staring up at me. The cheeky little thing finallly left after a few Shoo!s and a couple of you-need-to-leave-nows.

I think tonight's visitor to the cat bowls was that little stinker. S/he showed very little fear when I came out on the porch and snapped a picture or two. It may become necessary to hire someone to relocate this brazen little fella since s/he is learning not to be afraid of humans.

And because s/he can wipe out two bowls of kitten chow in one sitting!

Rainy Tuesday

I got a nice surprise in the mail: a $10 check from the State Fair Creative Arts department. That's $6 for the second place sampler and $4 for the one that placed third. I think that's rather quaint. Bet those prize moneys haven't been updated in a coon's age.

In the not so nice department, the city of Nashville no longer wants to foot the bill for the State Fair so this last one really may be The. Last. One. It was nice to have the experience of participating in it.

No stitching since the weekend. I've been mulling over the placement of the eyelets and haven't reached a firm conclusion. The original design called for two eyelets on each page and a ribbon run through both, tied on the front. That's great if you've just got a few or even several pages, but I'm dealing with 14 of those boogers. I'm thinking I need three to four eyelets for a more stable stitching book.

Mull, mull, mull.

Oh, Mr. Stinky II is browsing at the feral cat bowls. The first Mr. Stinky met his demise crossing the street last year, so I know this isn't the same one. Seems like I'm running a soup kitchen for animals these days: Patches, Ginger, Big Yellow Cat, Tabby with White Feet (who I now know is named Ziggy), Patches's Evil Twin, and Tippy, the chubby gray and white cat with the white tip on his tail that lives across the street but always likes to grab a bite or two on my front porch. And sometimes this huge white German sheperd comes by really, really early in the morning and cleans out what little is left in the bowl overnight.

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?

Patches and Ginger have their bowls out front. Often, Patches is usually waiting close by at mealtime; Ginger shows up when she wants to. (I think she's still a bit bent about having been spayed.) I put out food for them twice a day and the bowls are usually empty when it's time to fill them again.

During the day, I know the birds will come by and steal a few pieces of food. I've suspect that more than Patches and Ginger were sampling the buffet at night. Looking out the front door glass I've seen unknown cats and dogs and possums eating at Patches' and Ginger's bowls. Last night, though, I got a surprise.

The latest diner at Casa d'Fidget is a skunk. Yes, Pepe La Pew (or Fifi, I didn't check) was busy eating and drinking on the front porch. The porch light didn't phase him a bit. He actually was kinda cute. The white stripeage didn't extend to the tail, though. There were two white stripes, beginning at the top of the head, that went down the neck, over the shoulders and joined at the middle of the back. Once he'd eaten all the food and drank his fill, he waddled off the porch and into the night.

I think I'll be a bit less generous with the evening meal. He may have been cute, but I'd rather he stayed away.