The Initiation

Picture It: Sunday, September 28, 2008, 2:00 AM. (Anyone who is a fan of Sophia on the Golden Girls will appreciate that opening). But, I digress, so, Picture It: Sunday, September 28, 2008, 2:00 AM.

Luke is working late, it's just me and Isabelle out on the farm sleeping peacefully when a strange rustling outside my bedroom window along with the sound of what had to be a very large, hooved animal running... no, sprinting, past my bedroom window. I am startled awake. In the next forty-five seconds three things would happen.

First, I would wonder... "Is it the bull? Yesterday one of the cows was at the pear tree.. Did the bull get out?", "Is someone trying to break in the basement?" Then I hear the flapping of ears and I relax because I have figured it out. "Ahhh.. The bull was on the side of the house and Buddy chased it past my window and now the bull is eating pears that have fallen on the ground and he just shook his head which would explain the ear-flapping noise." So, I go to the door that opens onto the deck so that I can sneak a peak and see if I am right, but unfortunately I can't see anything. That's when the second event happens.

A strange smell, a horrible odor inside the house that I have never smelled before.. then I peek out the front door where Buddy is standing guard and I notice a strange fog, so I open the door just a crack to investigate and I'm almost knocked over by the horrible, ungodly odor. Then my imagination runs wild. "Is someone trying to break in the house and they've released a poisonous gas so that no one inside can escape!?! Should I take Izzy and go hide somewhere?".... Then reason takes over... "I've never been around or really smelled a skunk before, but maybe it's a skunk?"

Anxious, dizzy and nostrils burning, finally the third thing happens. I frantically call Luke at work. However, there is nothing he can do from work.. so I have to wait.. and wait. Finally at 4am Luke gets home and runs to the front door where I'm anxiously waiting for him. "Can you smell it? What is it? Is it poison? Is it a skunk?" and Luke, tired and sore from working a 12 hour day answers and says.. "No, it's not a skunk! It's the epicenter of a skunk!"

It's as if there was a skunk bomb and Buddy and our house was ground zero. Inside and out was thick with the remnants of our skunk bomb. Poor Buddy hosed down by the skunk, didn't know what was going on. We tried to get what little sleep we could with vicks vapor rub caked on our upper lips. Finally, several air fresheners, bottles of vinegar and skunk shampoo mixtures later, the smell has gotten a little better and this city girl has officially been initiated into life on the farm.