A Skunk Reeks Havock

I was about to get on the computer yesterday morning to post an update on my blog when suddenly the most aweful smell came up through my air conditioner vent....... the smell only a skunk can make. Instantly the entire house was full of this offensive odor. I told my daughter to get dressed and we got out of here for a while. We were gagging and trying to get out of the house before one of us threw up. If you've ever been in the mist of a skunk's spray then you know exactly how we felt. We were going to go town later in the day anyway, but this just hurried us along.

When we arrived back home the odor was mostly gone so I thought nothing else of it and went on about what ever needed doing. I thought maybe we'd seen (or smelled) the last of him when he struck again this morning. Dear hubby headed out the door to work this morning and just about the time he reached his truck, he turned around and headed back to the house and told me to go get his gun...... the skunk was in our little chick's pen!!!! I ran and got his gun real quick and he took a few shots before actually killing him and thankfully he didn't spray my husband. I took the gun back inside and he headed on to work and left me with these words.... "now you know you'll probably have to clean that mess up because it'll be way too bad by the time I get home this evening".... I did not want to hear those words.....AT ALL!!!! He said it looked like the skunk had killed a few of the chicks too and I would need to access the damage and get the dead ones hauled off. Isn't there someone who does stuff like this for a living???? I was wanting to call somebody....ANYBODY!!! They didn't this in Home Ec....... that I remember. He called me about an hour later and asked if I had gone out there yet and of course I hadn't but I knew it would only get worse the longer I waited, so I put on my rubber boots and rubber gloves and I should have gotten a close pen for my nose but I didn't. I had no idea it would be as bad as what it was. I didn't know a skunk could cause this much trouble. Don't worry about the foxes or snakes in the hen house, you'd better be watching for the skunks. He ended up killing all but two of my chicks.....15 total and wounded another that might not make it and mangled the head of our big mother hen, who might make it but will be even more traumatized. The poor old dear. There were dead chicks everywhere, I didn't even know where to begin. It was a horrible site, feathers and dead chicks strown all across the pen. I ended up getting all but one of the chicks and the skunk.......I couldn't take it anymore and besides I couldn't reach them and I was about to lose my insides. What makes me madder than anything is the fact that the stupid ole skunk didn't do it for food, he did it just to kill them. Everything on the poor little chicks were fine and in tact except for their heads. He bit all of their heads half in two. I hope he didn't have rabies!!!! I guess we might take the skunk to the vet's office for a check. If he did, we'll for sure have to put down the mama hen and the other injured chick. I supposed we'll be starting all over again and it wasn't going to be much longer before they started laying. I just hate that it happened. A skunk has got to be one of the most vile creatures on this earth. I love the country life but THIS kind of thing I can definitely do without!!!

Lovin' this warm Spring Weather

I am so loving this beautiful warm spring weather. I've started working in my flower beds this weekend and it is starting to look really nice. Under my crepe myrtle tree next to the house, I planted lots and lots of periwinkles (vincas). There are a variety of color mixed together and I think it will look really nice, especially when the crepe myrtle tree blooms. Our garden is comming along nicely, no fruit on the vines yet but we are seeing blooms now so that is definitely encouraging. I planted some elephant ears a few weeks ago and they are just now peeking up from the ground. I think this week I will work on clearing out a flower bed on the other end of the house. We already have a lantana planted there in the middle, but I'm planning on making a flower bed from end to end and filling it up with more lantanas. I especially like the pastel yellow and pink ones. I hope I can find some that color, most of the time the ones you see are bright orange.

Today, while my husband was burning brush, I happend to look down and spot a ripe dew berry, so that sparked us to look for more. We found a few around the house but then decided to take a nice drive along a dirt road in the country and found several ripe ones along a fence line. I think if we go next weekend there will be lots more ripe ones. It seemed like we picked forever and ended up with only a quart size bag. We want enough to be able to make a couple batches of jelly and of course dew berry cobbler. Doesn't that just sound delicious.....I can taste it now with a big dollop of homemade vanilla ice cream. Mmmmm Mmmmm !!!!

I will share with you a couple of recipes using dew berries and also one for homemade vanilla ice cream.

DEW BERRY COBBLER

3 cups fresh fruit (dew berries or whatever you want to use)
water to cover fruit
3 1/2 tsp baking powder
2/3 cup milk
1 cup sugar (for fruit)
1 cup flour
1 cup sugar (for cobbler)
1 stick butter
Combine fruit, 1 cup of sugar and water (just enough to cover fruit). Simmer for 5 minutes. Mix together flour, baking powder, sugar and milk. Melt butter in pan. Pour batter over butter then add fruit. Bake 350 degrees until done. Remove from oven and sprinkle with remaining 1 cup sugar. Return to oven for another 10 minutes. Serve hot with vanilla ice cream.


DEW BERRY SOUR CREAM PIE
(my mother-in-law's recipe)

1 pie crust
1/2 cup flour
2 eggs
dew berries (enough to fill a pie shell)
8 Tbsp flour
1 1/2 cup sugar
dash salt
1/2 cup sour cream
4 Tbsp butter
8 Tbsp sugar
Place berries in pie shell; mix 1 1/2 cups sugar, 1/2 cup flour, salt, eggs and sour cream. Pour over berries. Mix together 8 Tbsp each of the flour and sugar and cut in the 4 Tbsp of butter until it is like coarse crumbs. Top the pie with this mixture and bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees.


HOMEMADE VANILLA ICE CREAM
(my mother-in-law's recipe)

9 eggs
3 cups sugar
1 can Eagle Brand Milk
1 can Pet Milk
3 Tbsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
enough whole milk to fill the canister
Beat eggs thoroughly. Add sugar gradually. Beat until thick. Add remaining ingredients; mix well. Pour into a 6 quart ice cream freezer. Finish filling with whole milk to the fill line. Freeze as directed in your ice cream freezer. This makes 1 1/2 gallons.