Tragedy

Strains of the Bee Gee's song "Tragedy" are playing in the background as I type this blog entry. It's rather appropriate.

Yesterday, in the midst of a visit from a dear friend, Andrew entered the house looking a bit sad. He announced to us that he'd found the skunk. He exited through the back door only to return a few moments later looking even more sad. Upon closer inspection, he discovered that it wasn't the skunk he'd found...but it's offspring. Yes, the Sir was really a Sally, and sadly, it was in the process of increasing the skunk population when last week's battle occurred. This knowledge might explain Sally's insistence and determination to return to her home after it had been flooded. What in the beginning was a sort of exciting attempt to encourage a skunk to move on has become a tragic tale of a brave mother skunk trying to raise her offspring in a rural town in Texas. (Can you tell I'm having a bit of fun with alliteration? Okay. Just checking.)

Poor skunk!
Poor offspring!
Poor Andrew!

I think finding the little skunk was a bit of a Boo Radley moment for Andrew. Sally wasn't an evil boy skunk with devious plans to spray and attack his wife and child on their way to the garden, but a Mommy skunk just trying to find a place to have her little ones.

When my family lived on land there were countless times we'd find stray animals dropped off on our property. We couldn't keep all of them, so if the pound wouldn't take them, Dad had to deal with it. I recall a time when someone dropped off a pit bull. The pound absolutely refused to take it, and with no one else wanting such a dog, Dad had to shoot it. Dad didn't get any enjoyment out of doing such a thing, but that kind of a dog wasn't safe to have around his family, so he did what he had to. Though I knew pits were typically dangerous and was scared of the animal, I begged Dad to tell me when he'd buried it so I could shed a few tears and lay flowers on it's grave. It hadn't hurt any of us, but it could have. The risk was too great, so it had to go one way or another. That was one of the many moments I learned that life on "the farm" isn't always pretty or easy. Sometimes you have to do difficult things to protect your family or property. Andrew did what he needed to. RIP Sally Skunk.