Wild Kingdom Good and Bad

I picked up the kids at karate tonight.  We got home about 8:30.  I hadn't had dinner yet and everyone else had.  I got a couple of burger patties out of the freezer and headed to the grill.  The sun had already gone down and it was just starting to get dark.

I looked over toward the big tree in the back yard and saw the coolest thing ever.  Fireflys.  A gagillion of them.  It was like fireworks.  It was like freakin' lazer Floyd in the back yard grass.  I called everyone out to see.  The kids came out to the grill with me.  Jen watched through the garage door.  They all agreed it was awesome, and then they went in.

Just after they went in I started hearing rustling noises in the trees to my left.  It was a lot more than the squirrels usually make.  Could it have been a deer?  A bear?  A coyote?  A fox?

Nope.

It was a skunk.

Not a big one.  I've seen skunks that were easily twice this guy's size.  He nosed around in the grass on the edge of the woods for a few and then he did something that disturbed me greatly.

At this point I was thinking... do I go inside and forget the burgers on the grill?  Do I stand my ground? Do I shut down the grill and walk away, so as not to burn anything and risk a back yard conflagration?

That's when the little bugger started walking toward me.  I stopped thinking about what to do about the grill and started thinking about ways to remove skunk smell.  Does tomato juice really work?

The skunk actually hopped up onto the patio.  I was on the patio too, but as far from the house as it gets.  The skunk stayed along the edge of the house.  The back door to the garage was open and the light inside was on.  Could the skunk be planning to go inside?  Damn, I hope not.

Nope, he kept his nose to the ground and waddled off the other side of the concrete.  He actually climbed up onto the cellar window for a second and then headed off, sticking close to the house.  He ended up crossing into the neighbor's yard.

So I guess the moral of the story is that living in a house that has wild kingdom in the back yard can have super wonderful moments, and some potentially smelly moments too.