Skunks, Squirrels and the Tooth Fairy

Living in the country you expect to see a lot of road kill. I can't count how many times over the last few months I have driven by a dead skunk and had the lingering smell in the car for several minutes. While growing up I can only remember a few times when we would drive by one and cover our faces to block out the smell. However, it always took me a couple of seconds and someone always had to tell me what it was. After this summer, I don't think I will EVER forget that smell again. It's strange though, with all the dead skunks we see on the side of the road I have never seen one that was alive...that was until yesterday morning. I was taking the kids to the bus stop and saw this white head moving around the parking lot. I slowed and realized it was a skunk. I got so excited as it skurried into the bushes while our high schooler stated that she would not be walking from the car to the bus (all of maybe 50 feet) and one of our grade schoolers stated that "I can smell it". I assured our high schooler that the skunk went the opposite direction and the grade schooler that the skunk was moving to fast to be able to spray at that point. It was pretty awesome.

We have also seen quite a bit of squirrels lately. Oddly, they are not dead as often. It's odd because they seem to have a serious death wish. In one hours time I nearly hit 4 of them. Since that day (about a month ago) I have nearly hit another hand full. I don't remember seeing so many squirrels during the summer but apparently they are preparing for winter because they are ALL OVER THE PLACE!! They are very cute but every time I see them now, I go for my brakes, preparing for the inevitable. Fortunately I still have not hit an animal while living in the country. Praise the Lord. I have come close though and know that it is really only a matter of time. I am just hoping it is not one of the dogs that run rampant outside their yards. I think that would just about do me in. I felt bad enough when Michael had the thump, thump incident with the cat (see earlier post).

Onto the last of my stories. About 2 months ago, one of our teens had a tooth pulled. Come to find out, about a month later, she stated that she had put the tooth under her pillow for 5 DAYS waiting for the tooth fairy. I felt so bad when she told me that. I felt like a slack parent. I am still learning. However, one of our grade schoolers got her tooth pulled two days ago. That evening I had several things to do in town without the kids and when I got back and tucked her into bed, she said, "I know what you were doing in town tonight. You were shopping for my tooth fairy present. I know how the tooth fairy works." She was so excited. I remember wondering how long it would take her to get to sleep and being confident that I would not repeat my last failure. The next morning I woke her up and as she is getting her stuff ready to pile into the van to head to the bus stop, I see her put her tooth in her book bag to show the class. The first thought that entered my head...I FORGOT...AGAIN!! I felt so bad. So last night I set an alarm for late so I would know she was asleep and remember this time. I put the money under her pillow (fortunately she sleeps very close to the wall) but didn't try to hard to find the tooth (I really didn't want to wake her up). However, she didn't mention anything this morning. I haven't checked her bed yet to see if she found the money. I guess she'll find it soon enough.