Omg. Baby skunks!

I have watched each year as the skunks have families and mama takes the babies out one by one teaching them to forage for food while leaving the rest of the litter behind in a safe space. I have several cameras set out on the property to catch and spy on all the wild things that come out at night, but never have I ever come across a baby skunk without any siblings or mama close by until yesterday! 

I’ve also never ever gotten too close just because I don’t want to startle anything or get sprayed. Yesterday however, Christian spotted a lone baby while walking Poptart, and when I went out to look for it, and make sure it was ok, it walked right up to my shoe. In my mind I would like to think it was saying “hey - can you help me? I am lost”….

I watched it walk around for several minutes in a Disney sort of awe while hoping to see other babies or mama come around, but it was indeed all alone. I put this little babe in a box to contain it so I could walk around looking for mama or siblings and not lose this possible orphan in the event that no family could be found. I have a good friend ( I actually met her almost exactly eight years ago because of other orphaned wildlife babies) who is a licensed wildlife rehabber. I knew she’d recently taken in a lone orphaned skunk, so thought she’d be perfect to take in another orphan! 

I dropped everything I had planned and drive the baby to her STAT. It was a quick drop off because it was very close to dusk and I had to get back home to tend to all my own critters. 

After I’d fed everyone and was taking Reece on his last walk before bed, my flashlight hit a set of glowing eyes. And another tiny lone skunk. Again no mama around… I scooped it up and reached out to my friend who instructed me to get some hydration in this one. Then this morning I dropped it off with his sister. 

I also got to hold the baby from yesterday and she slept in my palm while I got a little peek at the other the wildlife rescue residents. 

Omg - their little feet are so soft! 

If you ever find multiple baby skunks, likely mama is nearby taking one at a time out to learn to forage and eat on their own. If you are worried, just sit back for an hour or two and wait and I’m sure you’ll see mama come back for them. I knew these babies were in trouble simply because each year I’ve watched several litters of kits stay with mama skunk until they are much bigger. Sadly I speculate that mama got hit by a car or was killed by something and these babies were left in a den and when mama never returned for a few days, they ventured out needing food and water. 

Never handle baby animals if possible. I scooped both these babies up with a box and a trashcan. When I needed to move the one from today, I used a gloved hand, and only held the one from yesterday while it was sleeping and under supervision by the licensed rehabber. I never ever take handling wildlife lightly. One little mishap and your good efforts could endanger the life of the one you are trying to help. 

In other news, the high today was 77 degrees and it is JUNE! This weather is so glorious and unheard of and such a wonderful surprise to this life-long Georgia gal. I cut grass this afternoon and just got out of an epsom salt bath before the evening ritual of collecting the special needs ducks and putting them up for the night, feeding the  senior goats and horses their snacks laced with supplements for their ol’ joints, and then hanging out with Cluck Norris in the hammock before putting him to bed and then walking the pups. 

So far my summer has been filled with lots of baby wildlife and although I had to bury a newborn fawn and some baby bunnies last week due to the reality and fragility of nature, being able to help these skunks has been such a gift. 

I hope your evening is swell! 

xo

-s

june

 Happy June, all you lovelies! I hope y’all are having a great week so far…. I have been so inspired by all things lately. 

I purposely took a hiatus from posting here for a bit to focus on lots of things I was starting to feel like I was taking for granted or I had simply neglected ……. My sweet little slice, some self-care, and my own relationship. Relationships get a little sticky when you forget despite the longevity, you need to make time to touch base, check in, and connect regularly. Christian and I have been together almost 24 years. That’s over half my life…  It’s easy when you are with someone for so long to become complacent and forget that you still need to put the work in, so we’ve been working on things after a little difficult spell. It’s hard to even know how to navigate or have constructive conversations with friends on this matter when the majority of relationships these days don’t even last that long. I’ve got one friend my age  who has been with her husband longer than Christian and I have been together, but aside from that I am just wingin’ it. I guess that’s the beauty of life - and love. Stick with it long enough and you’ll eventually figure it out. Or ya won’t. Either way if you don’t figure out, it will be figured out and if you don’t put in the effort, you might not be happy with the outcome. 

Now on to farm happenings… I think when I was here last, I had just rescued Quack Nicholson from the local shelter. He was thought to be injured at the time, but turns out he has a degenerative bone disease with is quite common in Pekin ducks. He was starting to grow depressed from a lack of his own kind to chat with so I looked high and low for some suitable companions for him and found two disabled females with the same disability as him and now all three are living their best little lives out here. 

Cluck Norris is holding steady and although we had a setback when he jump/flew out of my arms last month, he is back to his old self. He sleeps in the shop each night with Reece and they seem to enjoy each others company. Who’d have ever thought those two would hit it off?

Ellie and Ellen are doing swell despite them both being elderly ladies. They both are easy keepers as long as they get snacks in the evening and an empty pool for daytime naps. 

Everything is growing like wildfire and staying on top of the grass has been a challenge. Of course if you let grass get too tall this time of year, you risk mowing over baby bunnies, and in the goats’ paddock I spotted a nest I uncovered with my mower and luckily none were injured (because I always go over the first time with my deck at the highest level). I checked everyone out and positioned a wireless camera to make sure mama came back despite my jostling of their nest. She did and I was so happy to see the brief visit from mama bun but the next day, Ellie (the blind goat) stepped on the nest accidentally and while one died instantly, one succumbed to its injuries in my hands. It appeared to be brain dead, breathing slightly with some internal injuries and head swelling. I cradled it, hoping for the best, but ended up burying them both in the forest together and then covered the nest with a lawn chair to prevent that from happening again…. You can see in the photo how large the head was on the one. :(

Just a few days later while pet-sitting some dogs that have the most beautiful acreage to run free on, one of them brought me a brand new baby fawn. It was alive and breathing and had no external wounds and was moving its whole body so I was hoping it could be saved. I have zero cell service at this place, so I held baby fawn and bawled my eyes out telling her I was so sorry this was happening while feeling completely gut-wrenched that mama deer saw her baby being stolen. Animal instincts are just that. Instinctual, and I couldn’t feel any way about the dog that brought me this brand new baby, but man that was hard. I thought initially the baby might have a chance if I could get her to a rehabber, but within minutes she died in my arms. I brought her to the farm and gave her a nice sendoff, laying her on a bed of green leaves in a shallow grave and surrounding her with Queen Anne’s Lace…

I can only hope in those last minutes of life, the little one knew I was trying to help….

I’ve started completely redoing the big horse pasture with field fence because Rose keeps risking getting zapped by the electric rope to go munch on grass on the other side of the fence. I’m hoping by July that will be finished…

I’ve been working on my green thumb alllllllll fall, winter, and spring, and it has paid off !! I have plants galore that are thriving for the first time in my life! So many flowers on the cusp of blooming, so I can’t wait to report back when they do. 

Anyway, I’m excited to begin this new month and start this new more attentive journey in my relationship with Christian. We’ve come a long way since the young early 20s kids we were when we met. 

I am off to go sit some sweet pups and cats and then swing by my mom’s for a nice home cooked meal that I will never ever pass up! I hope you all have a lovely evening - it is unseasonably mild, in the 70s and breezing’ here in Georgia. I can’t ever remember it being this amazing in June here. I mean ever. Oh! But on that note, I am also in the midst of setting up our little saltwater ‘redneck riviera’ pool for the summer, so I’ll be ready for those Georgia scorchers that are inevitably around the bend. 

xoxo

-s

ello!

So lately I’ve been starting each morning off prancing and skipping down the dirt road while listening to “Hair of the Dog” by Nazareth in my headphones. My playlist for my morning walk has been a great mix that includes a lot of the badass rock songs that make you feel like you-are-the-shit (something I’ve known for a long time- bahahaha). Ya see even though I’m not a ‘son of a bitch’, this song has been fitting with what’s been going on in my life recently and I get a little giddy when I listen to it…  

I came across it exactly two months ago while finalizing something I’d been working on about a year and a half. It was definitely a nod from my dad for sure. It literally came on the radio at the perfect time and was just what I needed to hear. So between that song and many others that take me back to gunning it on country backroad straightaways with my dad in his old souped up Plymouth with the loudest stereo I’d ever heard in a car at the time, I’ve been rocking out these days to those classics and getting lost in nostalgia. Of course I still have my gangsta rap and booty music peppered in here and there, but it’s the ol’ “dad songs” that have given me the push I need these last few months. I’m going to create a new mixtape sometime this week when I get all my mowing caught up, and if you like rap and classic rock, you may like my mix. If ya don’t, then don’t listen. 

In rescue news, as much as I had hoped, Cluck Norris hasn’t gained any weight but he seems happy and his little abscess on his chest isn’t inflamed anymore and has scabbed and healing. I found someone who specializes in his breed, and they have given me tips and pointers on how to put some weight on him. 

The breed (Aseel/ Asil) is naturally slim, leggy, and his keel will always be more pronounced than in my regular chickens. 

I’m still working on his legs - he has scaly leg mites that can be eradicated pretty easily over time and his foot isn’t infected any more. He’s seems pretty content, but his quality of life isn’t quite where I’d say he’s thriving, so for now we are going week by week in hopes we have more physical improvements that will hopefully add to his overall happiness. 

Quack Nicholson may have overdone it a bit yesterday. He’s got two pools - one deep enough for total free floating (it’s purely leisure and fun) and one a bit smaller for his exercises and hydrotherapy. Yesterday he was feeling so good in his exercise pool that he got out all by himself! This is great that he physically could do that because he hasn’t been able to use his legs much at all since being picked up by a Good Samaritan exactly a week ago. 

I’ve been in touch with a waterfowl rescue and they’ve given me info on how to help his mobility issues and also what supplements he needs to serve him best. He’s happy, content, and it is very evident, and even if he doesn’t improve much with his mobility, I’m confident we can let him live out the rest of his days pretty happy with where he’s at physically. I’m waiting on the correct dosage info to start him on the same regimen Hazel was on in her golden years of MSM and glucosamine. He’s also recently been started on nutritional yeast for the niacin and b vitamins that ducks need. Now we just wait and see, but he’s truly content and seems very happy being here. 

Rose and Buddy have been loving the lush green grass of spring, and I’ve been keeping them on their doses of Vitamin E to help strengthen their immunity against the parasite that causes EPM since that was something we dealt with last summer. I’ve been advised by numerous people and vets that it would be likely that Rose could relapse - that it is actually common, so in all my research last year on EPM and vitamin E, and how it helps strengthen the myelin (an insulating layer, or sheath that forms around nerves, including those in the brain and spinal cord), this is our defense plan this year! 

Ellie and Ellen are doing well and seems to be alright after the passing of Eli. Ellen was most affected and grieved for quite a while after the fact. They are enjoying the lush grass and warmer temps as well and they are maintaining good weights despite being seniors - yay! 

Today is the day I’ve planned to start getting all the grass cut from three weeks of my lawn tractor being out of commission. Friday when I got my it back I was able to cut the horse pasture and the front yard, but then the rain came and the rest of the 9 acres is sooooooo tall. It will take me going over it a few times before it is just a regular mow again. It’s a bit overwhelming but it is what it is… after this week I can get back on track for mowing to be purely therapeutic. 

I’m so happy to be back here at least a few times a week sharing snippets of this place with you! I am only getting started in getting you all up to speed about it all! I cannot wait to share my journey of 2022 with you about all the things I’ve not really had time to share here yet! 

Anyway, it’s early and cold - 39 degrees, and I’m off to go freeze outside until the sun comes out and starts warming everything up!  There are troughs to scrub, ducks and fighting roosters to let out (ha!), and grass to mow. 

And always thanks for coming back to this space time and time again. 

xoxo

-s

The last few days and our newest resident…

 While Georgia weather is notorious for blowing through all the seasons in one day, I don’t recall that happening ever as late as April. Temps have been in the 30s at night, we’ve had cold and miserable gully washers that lasted alllllll day, and then the most beautiful and sunny typical April spring days. All in one weekend! Bahahahha!

I don’t keep hay this late into the year, but luckily we have plenty of grass for the horses on these cold nights - it doesn’t mean they weren’t miserable though. They actually like the rain, but no one likes the cold + rain…

Except our newest resident, which I will introduce further down… 

Ellen was glad to see the sun after an entire 24 hours of cold rain. Goats despise being wet, so you can imagine how unhappy the goats can get when they can’t get out and explore for a whole day! 

Poptart would hardly get out of bed and absolutely did not want to go to her business out there..

All this wet stuff is good for my porch plants though! 

…and I’ve got baby dahlias coming up! 

Bleh….

Sunday drive out to my mama’s for Easter lunch with the fam…

The daunting task of untangling this elevating netting…

Oh! And look at that beeeeeeeautiful lawn!!! I was without my mower for a little over three weeks and thought I was gonna go crazy without it. The day she was back home I was able to mow a little before the big storm rolled in…

Cluck Norris says hi…

My bounty of money er… I mean eggs. 

… dirt road walkin’ with my boy….

Now hear the story of our newest resident, Quack Nicholson….

I went to spend a few minutes with my shelter project pup, Bella, when animal control staff informed me about a duck…. Well, the rest is now history, but he went from this: 

To the backseat of my car…..

To this sad little water bowl - ha! 

To lots of love, two new pools, and a newly educated duck mama! 

I have thoroughly enjoyed my weekend getting to know Quack and you will be seeing lots of him and hearing more about his story when I have a bit more time to tell it!  I’m heading out now to let him out for the day and walk the pups! 

Xo

-s