Defender of Her Universe

     ​So when I got home from the farmers market this afternoon, Young’un mentioned Felix, our farm cat, might have been sprayed a bit by a skunk last night.  Hmmm…what’s sprayed a bit?  Over the years here I’ve been sprayed along side one of our dogs, one of our curious sheep, Z, had been sprayed by a skunk, and quite frankly, skunk just don’t impress me even an inkling.  I don’t like to smell them or see them and trying to get that smell out of myself, the dog, or the sheep’s wool was no picnic.  
     Later on, Hon called and asked Young’un to check how much poultry food was in the bins, so he went to look and came back in, telling me as he washed his hands that he pet Felix and she didn’t really smell bad.  Ugh.  He put his hand up to me and said to smell it.       Uh, no.  Now, I don’t know about you, but I equate that along the same lines as when someone says, “Ew, that tastes bad.  Try it.”  Why in the world do I want to try it if I’m already being told it’s bad, or in this case if I know without a doubt it’s bad because I didn’t need that hand in my face to smell it?  Young’un persisted in wanting to stick his hand in my face and I persisted in fighting off the terror of the situation because let me tell you, soap or not, his hand smelled.  Probably still does.  I won that battle, by the way.
     Fast track to evening chores I just came inside from finishing up.  As usual, I took Felix her food out at the red barn.  When I rounded the corner to do that, I came upon the most horrid skunk smell I’ve had the displeasure of smelling in a while.  It was so strong I swear my toes curled and my nose hairs burned away.  It was mostly coming from Felix, along with what seems to be the area she cats around in with the week’s hay bales for me to use.  I even sniffed her to make doubly sure of where the noxious odor was mainly coming from.  I then gagged as I gave her her food, I gagged as fed the cows and the sheep, and I gagged as I got the hay in the racks. 
     I like to think Felix got sprayed because she was defending her universe.  I mean, really, what else could it have been?  She won’t stand for any of the plethora of strays around to set foot in her barns, let alone on her farm.  She’s made our place a one-cat farm and I’m just fine with that.  She knows poultry are friends and their eggs are off limits, regardless of where they are, unless we break open an egg for her.  I imagine her seeing the skunk take a stroll into the barn, maybe looking for a new home, maybe looking for a meal, and not standing for the situation, defending her home….jumping off the haybales, landing on the skunk, batting it around with her paws…you get the idea.  Work with me here and just imagine.
     When Young’un got out to the red barn I told him his nose must be broken because Felix didn’t just get sprayed a bit…she got SPRAAAAYED and it didn’t just stink…it STAAAAAANK!  He really doesn’t think it was that bad, but trust me, it’s worse.  I’m sitting here reminiscing on the situation and it’s like the smell is trapped in my sinuses and just won’t quit.  I think I taste it, too. 
So there you have it folks, Felix, continuing to defend her universe against hostile invaders.  I also think there’s only one thing I can do in the morning…let Hon go out and do chores with Young’un.  Oh and by the way, as I’m writing this, Young’un fessed up and said it was much worse than he originally said, even admitting that when he was out there this evening Felix was doing some gagging and highly doubts it was a hair ball.  Ever give a cat a bath?  I’m not even going to get into that story and I’m also not going to try to do it again.  Smiling & Waving, Sharon 

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