| Tired of big city life, my husband Pete and I moved out to the country about two years ago. At first we loved the quiet nights. No horns honking or sirens blaring outside our windows. At first it seemed like Heaven. Well, almost like Heaven. Actually, the quiet really took some getting used to, but I was determined that I would indeed learn to adjust. Being born and raised in the city though, we were not prepared for the vast amount of wildlife that tracked through our yard on a daily basis. From the beginning, deer were abundant. I mean, they were everywhere! Seemed like every time I looked out the window another deer was in the yard. Now, I personally think deer are beautiful creatures, but I prefer to see them in the woods and not standing on my back patio peering inside my house. There was also an abundance of rabbits, chipmunks, racoons, and of course, skunks. Lots of skunks. Being new to the area though, I was determined to fit in. I tried my hand at vegetable gardening, but the rabbits and deer ate everything I planted. I decided that vegetable gardening was never going to be the highlight of my life anyway, so I gave that up rather quickly. Besides, it was awfully hard on the fingernails. I also bought a new bird feeder down at the local hardware store, thinking it would be nice to feed the birds and to learn more about our little fine feathered friends. Well, the squirrels took that over and the poor birds couldn't get close to it. So much for my bird feeding experience. I gave that up also, but I was still determined to fit into our new country lifestyle, even though I noticed that it was getting harder than ever to sleep at night in all that quiet. Actually, about that time, the quiet was really starting to get on my nerves and the lack of sleep was starting to take it's toll. I really missed the night noises of the city. I finally voiced my feelings to Pete," Honey, maybe we're not really cut out for this country living after all?" I think he was pretty close to agreeing then, but what really convinced us was the night of the party. Pete and I had gone to one of his company's office parties that night. As we arrived home, turning into our driveway, the headlights of the car hit a small pair of eyes off to the side of our yard. Thinking that our cat Rosebud had somehow gotten outside while we were gone, Pete, the cat lover that he is, starts walking towards those eyes calling softly," Here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty." No response. He tries again," Here kitty kitty. Come on Rosebud, time to go in now." He keeps walking towards those eyes, calling softly, when suddenly, the eyes start moving towards him. Bending over, preparing to scoop Rosebud up in his arms before she could rush off again, he reached his arms out and that's when he saw it, that large white stripe going all the way down that skunk's back! Well, I never saw Pete move so fast. I mean, I didn't know he had it in him to jump that high off the ground. Both feet at once! I swear, I think he turned full circle in mid air. Before I had a chance to scream, Pete had dragged me inside the garage with him and slammed the door down with a loud bang, locking us safely away from that skunk, who now was emitting a really foul smelling skunk odor. "Yuck," I managed to mumble under my breath, not wanting to speak too loudly and scare him into spraying even more of the foul smelling stuff. Now, it was good that we were safe in the garage, except for one small problem. The garage sat about twenty feet away from the house. Now, twenty feet is not that far, unless you happen to have a disgruntled stinky skunk standing guard between you and the place you need to get to, namely our back door. We were stuck in the garage until that skunk decided he'd had enough of torturing us humans with his noxious fumes. The thing was, he didn't seem in too big a hurry to leave. He just kept wandering around that same small patch of ground, sniffing here and there, pretty much content to stay exactly where he was." I think that skunk is highly evolved or something, and he knows exactly what he is doing, keeping us prisoners in here like this." I voiced my thoughts to Pete. " He's smart, really smart." Pete just groaned. " That's impossible. No silly little skunk can be so smart." Still, we stayed in that garage for five hours, cold, hungry and tired. We were still there when dawn came, waiting, waiting, waiting. When the morning light came, that's when that skunk finally decided to take off. Finally! We watched him sauntering off towards the back of the yard, heading out towards the woods. We watched until he was almost out of sight. He stopped and turned to look back at us once before disappearing into the woods, and I swear, it looked like that demon skunk was grinning back at us! Pete and I made a quick dash for the house, slamming the door behind us and falling into our wonderfully comfortable bed for a few hours of much needed sleep. We put the house on the market the very next week. All we wanted was to get back to our wonderful noisy city life. I guess we just aren't cut out for country living, and besides, skunks aren't that intelligent in the city. I think the automobile fumes affect their brains or something. Copyright 2003 |
| I'll Take The City. |
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| Copyright 2003-2004 MsSouthernOrchid |