Papapiya

I know what you're thinking....a SKUNK!!

But this little guy has been absolutely positively my favorite animal in all of the animal kingdom, including humans. I know its extreme and when Shanon called me to tell me he found a baby skunk with his eyes still closed before he even got done with the sentence I told him no. But needless to say, I am somewhat of a push over and submitted to his insistence. I took the kids over, just to see it not to keep it and then....

we fell in love. 

Check out that little guy in front of the pool. In the short amount of time he was with us, he loved us, we loved him, and he showed me what its like to mis-judge something based on our preconceptions.

He also taught me a lot about myself. How I react in situations. I stomp my feet as a warning, then raise my tail and turn towards my target, then look behind me to get an accurate aim, then....well. He never did that. He never did. And maybe I needed to learn that. He loved us completely. In the mornings, when he got hungry, he sounded like a little grumpy old man chuckling and strutting around chasing me to be bottle fed goats milk and yogurt. 

This is the umpteenth picture of Colton that I took in the same setting, he's kind of over it at this point. 

Unfortunetly it is not legal to keep a skunk as a pet in Utah. I couldnt find anyone to help me de-scent him and had to hand him over to the animal control. It was really hard to see him go. I am grateful he came into our lives. Out of all of my pets I have had in my adult life, Papapiya was the one I've bonded with the most. (I know I was his favorite too!) 

Love you Papapiya, aka Pepe le pieu & Flower