Sleeping With A Stinky Cat

One night close to bedtime about three months ago, Spunk came running in from the catio. As he tore by me at full speed, I caught the full-on aroma of what had happened. Spunk got sprayed by a skunk that had slipped through the wire into the catio. Skunks are like snakes in that they can squeeze their bodies through almost anything their head fits through. A small skunk can easily slip through the 2×4 inch wire that covers the catio. After we got Spunk cleaned up the best we could, he had to sleep with me while he cleaned himself up during the night. He didn’t smell by morning, but when we went to bed, he was ripe with skunk spray. The experience inspired me to write and record Sleeping With A Stinky Cat. The song is played in a funk style.

Sleeping With A Stinky Cat
By Timothy Price

Spunk met a skunk, yeah
In the catio, no
Got a blast in the face
Oh that sent him on a race

He ran around the house like the devil on his tail
Stinking up the place making everyone’s life hell

Now I have to sleep with a stinky cat
Spunk needed comfort after the attack
Now I have to sleep with a stinky cat
My eyes are burning oh, Spunk is such a brat
Lying on the bed, curled in a ball
Sleeping with a stinky cat is no fun at all

I wiped his face, yeah
Wrapped him in a towel, oh
We rinsed his eyes at best
Trying to reduce the stress

Spunk struggled, and he hissed, used his claws and fangs no less
Scratches, bites to end the stress, I ended up a bloody mess

Now I have to sleep with a stinky cat
Spunk needed comfort after the attack
Now I have to sleep with a stinky cat
My eyes are burning oh, Spunk is such a brat
Lying on the bed, Spunk curled in a ball
Sleeping with a stinky cat is no fun at all

Creatures in the Moonlight

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While walking out to the ditch to turn in the irrigation water at 2:00 am under the Harvest Moon, I saw a critter scurrying my way. Skunks don’t see very well, so it got pretty close to me before it stopped and we had a brief stand off — long enough for me to sweet talk it into letting me get a couple of photos. The skunk wasn’t sure what to think about a giant troll talking to it in the middle of the night — it stomped its front feet and stepped from side to side trying to decide whether to scurry past me, spray me or retreat. It finally decided on a compromise and ran into the tall grass on its right. Fortunately, it turned out to be an uneventful encounter, but I had a difficult time getting a clear shot of the nervous little skunk as the shutter speed was only 1/5 of a second at ƒ/1.4. On the other hand, it was easy to get a clear shot of the spider that had built its web on the irrigation gate. It held perfectly still.

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