Mr. Flower

Ever seen Bambi?
It's been a while since I've seen it.
Well, the other day I was sitting in the office when Libby Lou comes frantically up the stairs telling Sam and I "there's a baby! a tiny baby skunk! it was right outside laying on the driveway!" we were like what?! a baby SKUNK? i wasn't really sure about that one. I haven't really ever seen a skunk except road kill. Thus began the rescue mission of baby skunk. He was named Flower, thanks to our childhood movie Bambi! He  was the tiniest little guy, and SO cute with his little ears, black fur and adorable white spots and stripes.  Since his eyes weren't even  open yet it never occurred to me to dispose of him just because he would potentially grow up on day to spray anyone who threatened him. People kept curling their noses at the report of a baby skunk, but seriously, if you had seen him, you would have cooed. haha!

Libby looked up Skunk Care websites and when they went into town Sam got some baby electrolyte fluid for him. It was really pathetic while they were gone though, because I was babysitting him in the office...and he started squeaking at me!! Naturally I had to hold him and clean him off. Well that's when I found a huge gash on his back probably from where the dog found him and started "playing."

Oh it was sad. It was a huge tear in his lower belly area and so I got a very nice lesson on skunk anatomy. I almost dropped him in the sink when discovered it though - so gross! Eventually everyone at camp found out about him and where pretty pessimistic towards the little guy. Sam, Libby and I were pulling for him though. No one thought he'd make it through the night... but! That morning when I went downstairs I was sitting on the couch reading my Bible, enjoying the view and listening to the birds chirp. One bird in particular was pathetically whining and wailing.I was still half asleep so it took me about 5 minuets to realize it was Mr. Flower squeaking in his cozy pencil box and slowly crawling his way to edge. He was a fighter! He pretty much didn't stop wiggling the whole morning.

I was babysitting him again that morning and left him the car for 30 mins before he was going to ride with me to the mailbox. After breakfast I found him  out of his pencil box trying to snuggle into the vinyl seat!
 For a while he kept us company in the office... he kept wiggling and squeaking til we just couldn't handle it anymore. After his active morning we knew it was his last fight against death, so we softly spoke encouraging words to him like "go toward the light!" "go, Flower, go be with Jesus!" He finally did. RIP Mr.Flower 6/10/11.

So that's my skunk  story. I feel pretty proud of it :) who else can say they've nursed a baby skunk? Maybe I didn't quite nurse him back to life... but that's just  a technicality. jk!