Update for Gage and Jessica

Hello friends in Germany!

This post will be about skunks, and I know few are interested in it save G&J. Tough.

Our skunks celebrated their third birthdays much like they do every day: with rough play, demands for food, and seeming to have more come out their back end then we put in their front end.

When we moved in to our new place, on moving day, our wonderful skunks managed to get into some planter bulbs that we had in an envelope in the kitchen. Being how they are, they shredded them and ate some (most likely). We packed them up and hauled them off to the new place, and they spent the first hour in our new home vomiting seven times between them. I'm not sure if it was the bulbs, the stress, or maybe they have the same thing I do where if you smell vomit you want to puke... so naturally we packed them back up and took an emergency trip to the vet.

Cramming them both into a single pet carrier (they do NOT currently get along AT ALL) was an adventure and resulted in about 15 minutes of skwaking and stomping from Aroma and Tobias looking out of the grate with a look that screamed "Get me out of here! She's crazy!!!" When they finally both got back into the exam room and had calmed down, she actually walked right up to Tobias, reached back, and slapped him across the head with her paw! The vet thought it was the funniest thing she'd seen in a while.

Anyway, it was fine, they're fine, but what was interesting is their weigh-in. Aroma had actually lost weight from the last time she had been in! She only weighted a little over 5 lbs. What was even wierder was Tobias, who clocked in at about 6.4! I was sure that Tobias was going to clock in at well over 10 lbs, but no! So we discussed altering the skunkie diet around here to try and put a little more weight on them. They weren't unhealthy, but they were constantly hungry (they're always hungry!), and having a little extra body weight is insurance for if they get sick or something.

So we've been feeding them more. a lot more protein, and a bit more of other stuff. It's worked wonders. I think we'll have to go back to the vet for a checkup, but Miss Aroma has put on a good amount of mass and isn't dwarfed by Tobias any more. She's still definitely smaller, but instead of looking like half his size, she maybe looks 85% or so. We've had to kind of scale their diet to respond to them individually, so we're still working on finding a good regular routine. Anyway, I thought you'd be amused that our meticulous attempts to make sure our skunks didn't get fat actually was quite successful, only more so than we intended.

Loads and burdens

Other than the obvious, previously discussed reasons, one of the main reasons I don't post on my blog is the monotony of my day to day. It's monotonous like a hurricane is breezy, but regardless, it's repetitive and constant with little variation. What compounds it is that I know this isn't any different from any other graduate student, and I don't particularly like turning a blog post into a "woe is me" archive, nor do I especially desire commiseration. We're all busy. We all get stressed out. We all want the short term stresses and annoyances to go away, I'm no different. I think too often people like to list all the things they have piled on like they want someone else to come along and say "you poor dear".

I don't.

I just want to get done and get through. There's always something to take on next.

On Moving or: How I learned to stop worrying and love the Uhaul.

So it looks like we're packing up and moving again. Another week or two with boxes and the refugee motif... Another round of "how the heck do you have so much crap?!?" and "Do you REALLY need a spare monitor from 1996?" and "Well I don't know, do you really need 5 pairs of black shoes?". Here's a secret: I actually kind of like moving. It's like pushing the reset button on your living space. It's a great excuse to throw accumulated junk and crap away. Last move I pulled a box out of storage, peeked in it, realized I hadn't needed anything in it like I thought I had from the previous move, and marched it right out to the dumpster.

Of course, moving means skunk proofing a new place. This is not as easy as it sounds. Imagine child proofing, only for something much smaller, much stronger, and an iron will To Get Into whatever it is that you're trying to keep it out of. It's like trying to build Stalag 17.

Best thing we ever did was hire movers last time. We did the packing ourselves and let pros do the lifting. Best money ever spent. Remember when you'd move with your friends, bribe them with pizza and it took forever, and you'd just be dead for a week after? We packed for a week beforehand, we got breakfast, and they came and knocked out our whole move, travel time included, in less than 3 hours for less than the price they quoted me! (I still gave the full amount and a tip, I was that impressed) So yeah, if you're in the market for movers, I know a guy. I can definitely recommend KC's Movers.

On Life Support

My blog. How I have forsaken thee.

We've had some good times, but now that I'm older, and married, and doing school again, and then of course taking into consideration my always present laziness.... it's become a banner year for not posting on my blog. I just don't have as much of a need to have a conduit to paint my mind to the world in a public way. It's not you, dear blog, it's me. Facebook lets me be pithy and funny in short, near telegraph length bursts. Facebook lets me see what everyone else around me is up to, and be on my merry again in short order. But Facebook doesn't let me hone my edge of expression like you, dear blog.

On the other hand, I keep thinking I should write a book instead with this time and with my facebook and other time. But as ever, a muse escapes me. I'm kind of stuck on this blog thing. I am thinking that while facebook is easy... it's not as deep.

Progress report

So, what have I been thinking about lately? More of a Meta list than anything else.

-Been thinking about poverty a lot, and how it perpetuates in a community across generations and in ethnic subgroups.

-School for me has been going really well. Good grades, good learning experiences, working with good people.

-Been spending a chunk of my online time on Facebook. It's been fun to see what some people from high school are up to now.

-I have a new student teaching assignment here in Newberg. It's a way better fit for me and as a bonus, is about 2 min from my house.

-I started a new diet that Audrey's been on. Stuck with it for two weeks. We'll see, steady as she goes.

-I love my skunks. Aroma has been subjected to Toby teaching himself how to be an alpha male, and he is occasionally mean to her. She'll put a foot out of line and he'll pounce on her to put her straight. What I can't figure out is that she'll scamper off and run right back for more five seconds later. That all changed about a week ago. Aroma got like J-Lo in that bad spousal abuse movie "Enough", and just started lashing out at Toby, stomping at him and giving him some of his own medicine.

They never actually fight, it's mostly posturing with Tobias hissing and Aroma grunting and squeaking. She can get pretty noisy for a skunk when she's mad. Aroma's also VERY VERY tricky. She's learned that "panicked squeak when mommy and daddy are out of the room means Toby gets in trouble". It took me a little to figure out that she makes her "ouch you jerk!" squeak without getting touched half the time. Now when she makes that noise, it likely means she's going after Tobias. Tobias, after getting to be a bully for a few months, doesn't know what to make out of being evicted from his hidey hole under the sink. He's taken up alternative residence in the bedroom closet. Occasionally she allows him back for midday nesting.