Today, the plan was to open the outer doors to the sun room during the day to let the kittens use it, then close it up for the night.

At one point, I was outside and decided to sit on the swing seat they like to cuddle on and play with Doom Guy, and get other kittens used to me.

One of the things I did when cleaning up the turd bombs and transferring the cat kibble from its chewed up bag into a 5 gallon bucket, was to put the bucket itself into a box on its side.  It just fits into a size medium moving box, with barely enough space above to be able to use the bowl we use to measure out the kibble without taking the bucket out.  The box and bucket are sitting on the plastic couch that is also in the sun room, to further make it hard to get at.

Well, that didn’t stop them completely, of course.  While I was there, Doom Guy jumped into the box, squeezed in behind the bucket, then stood up to look in.  He was able to reach into the bucket and just reach a piece of kibble, take it out, and proceed to crunch away, out of view, behind the bucket.  He only did it a few times before coming back for cuddles.  It was cute, but I’m thinking we need to find a lid for the bucket!

Just a little while ago, I went through the Old Kitchen to close up the sun room’s outer doors.  There was a whole pile of kittens, some scattering out the door, some behind the swing bench they were on, and Doom Guy made a dash for the old kitchen.

One of the other things I’d put on the plastic couch was the bag of deer feed.  It normally sits somewhere else, but I moved it there while the floor was being mopped, and hadn’t put it back.  It had been knocked onto the floor, with most of the feed spilling out.

*sigh*

I was able to sweep the majority of it back into the bag.  As I did that, kittens were dashing around me in all directions, and it sounded like one was stuck behind the dresser I use as a tool chest.  I swept up the last dregs of the seed into a dustpan to throw out into the garbage can just outside the doors.  I took the opportunity to see which kitten was stuck back there.

Whoops.

So I guess, when I went into the sun room, the skunk was under the plastic couch where I couldn’t see it and, when I disturbed it, it hid in the corner.

I’d seen it earlier in the day, coming through the front gate and up the sidewalk to the house, like any other visitor, before coming around to the cat food under my office window.  There was a fair bit of ruckus under there, as not only is the skunk pretty loud under there, but the blue jays were having a field day, going after the kibble.

So I went to check the bowls and, sure enough, they were empty.  The skunk had gone in to look for more food, most likely.

I refilled the bowls, hoping to tempt it out.

I waited a while to see if the skunk would come out, then came out of the house through the main doors with a flashlight.  No sign of the skunk, but I certainly tempted the kittens out!

All seven of them were very happy to have the bowls refilled!

At first, I couldn’t see the skunk and hoped it had at least come out of the corner and would be making its way out to the food bowls.

I was wrong.

It wasn’t hiding in the corner, after all.  It was settled in, quite comfortably!  Not the least bit disturbed by my flashlight, nor the flash, when I’d taken photos, earlier.

As I started writing this post, my daughter came by to let me know that all 7 kittens are in a pile on the swing bench.  I don’t hear any crunching under my window, which means the skunk hasn’t come out to eat.

This could be a problem.

Hmm.  I hear skunks make good pets…

:-D

The Re-Farmer