Adventures in Farm-sitting

Our Airbnb hosts had to tend to an emergency so we offered to help with the farm while they were out of town. Since they’ve been gone Chester has been sprayed by a skunk twice. The first time he clearly didn’t take a direct hit, the second time, he did. A dish soap bath cleared him up enough to come back in the first time, but the second offense happened the night another Airbnb guest was coming in. We knew he’d be getting in around 2 am bc Uhaul hooked up a Uhaul trailer to their Uhaul truck for him and it came unhooked on the freeway so he had to wait for roadside assistance. The dogs woke me up barking at 12:30 so I let them out. They woke up again around 2 and Wesley got up and let them out. While out Chester got sprayed. He came in and proceeded to wipe his face all over the rugs and drool all over the floor. Wesley got him back out, but thought Savy smelled ok. He came back to the room and all I said was, “Snunk! Get them out!” He took Savy out while I called Daniel to see how close he was. Thankfully he was only 3 min away so Wesley went out and occupied Chester so Daniel could get in the house with Milo without either of them getting skunked. Once everyone was in for the night, he showered and tossed his towel and clothes in a bag and set them outside. Chester decided to sleep on the front step on the last rug to kill that he hadn’t defiled inside. The next morning we got up and started by removing all the rugs from the dining/sitting area and the two smaller rugs from the living room. Then the floors got swept and we wiped the wood floors down with microfiber cloths soaked in vinegar. That helped tremendously. Chester must have gotten sprayed in the mouth bc the drool spots on the floor were potent and nasty!

I was really quite happy with how good the house was and we left to go to the gym and hot tub. When we got back we realized it wasn’t near as good as our skunk stink adjusted noses thought so Wesley did round two in the floors while I bathed the dogs. Chester was so foul, it was horrid. He really didn’t want a bath and refused to walk with the leash so I brought the hose to him in the shade. He was shivering, but not terribly cooperative. To say the least, I didn’t feel sorry for him. Savy got her bath second which was not as involved or thorough being she’s not been directly hit by the skunk. She also hadn’t just had a bath two days prior so that went well. They were so excited to be able to be up by the house again instead of locked in the middle part of the acreage. We still have them locked out of the back part that has the pond bc water makes skunk sprayed dogs smell so much worse. We left and went exploring. While we were gone Diana came over and bathed Chester with some expensive deskunking products and it worked really well, but I was so disgusted with both dogs after being woke up three times in the past two nights to chase wildlife that they spent two nights outside.

My old dog, when he was Savy’s age, decided to die while my parents both left town so I’ve been spending lots of time outside with her and Chester during the day and she’s so happy. She lays next to me while I shell pecans and enjoys the not quite good enough ones and the doggy pets. I don’t worry about them being outside bc they snuggle up and keep each other warm. I will let them in the next two nights bc it’s supposed to rain, they don’t have a shelter to get out of the rain, and I’m a softy.

Then there’s the chicken…. Yesterday I took my dish of veg scraps to the chickens and decided to see if the laying hen had laid her egg yet. I walked in on her in the nesting box. She was offended and told me all about it, but I looked after she jumped out and there was no egg yet. Then I went about solving the chicken outside the fence problem. I was pondering how it got out and after chasing the goofy thing around the pen a few times, grabbed it and tossed her in the chicken enclosure. I quickly realized that I had just tossed someone else’s chicken in the wrong coop. First, it was clearly trying to figure out where to go. Second, that offended hen who was laying her egg and the rooster started making more angry noises. Third, at this point I realize it doesn’t look like the other chickens. Diana thinks it’s the neighbor’s turkey’s companion bird. ??‍♀️

Today I was cleaning and wanted the 5 cats out of my way. I put the 3 big cats out, and the destructo kitten who has been playing with the decorative pine cones on the rug free hardwood floors (making a huge mess) was over by the door so I put him out too. I went out and sat by him, but when Diana came over to put a few things in the shop, I walked over and was talking to her. During that time I lost track of the kitten, and I haven’t seen him since. I’m really hoping he shows up tomorrow bc I possibly have the worst house sitting record right now: the dog got sprayed by a skunk twice, the house smells like skunk, the rugs are all skunky, I stole the neighbor’s chicken, and lost a cat. ??‍♀️