Gracious Nature

There are times when you just have to take time to appreciate the gracious nature of some of our fellow creatures.

At bedtime feeding tonight, while putting out hay for the "front field," I noticed what looked like a light from the barn reflecting on a puddle.  One pile of hay down, second pile ....wait....the puddle moved. It wasn't a puddle.  It was a gianourmous skunk!  OK, she's busily and very happily rooting up all the grubs emerging after the rain.  I'll just make the circle of hay a lot bigger than usual tonight. 

No problems.  We respected each other's personal space and all went well.

But then, Sonny emerged from the shed, having finished his bedtime snack.  "Hey look!  What's that thing?"  Now, our boy Sonny, who is 38, has some pretty impressive cataracts, so had to move in for a closer look.  Klump, klump.klump, klump (Sonny klumps along when not feeling particularly energetic.)  Nose to the ground, klump klump klump.  "Sonny!  SONNY!  STOP!" 

Just as Sonny's nose was about to make contact, Ms Skunk scampered forward about five feet.  Klump klump klump.  Sonny followed.  Again, she scampered. After the third approach-n-scamper, Sonny went on about his business of finding the perfect hay pile and settled in to munch. 

Marye also insisted on a closer look and, again, Ms S graciously scampered a few feet away from the pest.  As I turned off the lights and closed up shop for the night, everyone was contentedly snacking, the horses on their hay and Ms Skunk on her grubs, with not one whiff of odiferous protest.

Thank you, Ms S, for recognizing that our nosy geezers meant you no harm.