Furry Critters

My mom took some of my siblings and I to see the Harlem Globetrotters last night, and they were just as I remember them:

Incredible.

There was a little girl there, and from the back it looked like she had crimped, crazy hair, but when she truned around, we saw that she was wearing this totally hilarious hat. It was so cute with her tiny little body and head and this giant hat. We asked her where she got it, and she said Hot Topic. So I went to their website, and look at all the goodies I found! I'm craving these hats, especially the skunk and the rabbit, but they have more.

The skunk hat actually reminds me of a story. Each night for two nights I would go out to the barn and see something black and white in the live trap in one of the stalls, but I couldn't tell what it was. It never moved. I told Aaron, "Please, go see if it's alive. I'd rather shoot it than starve it, and I want to make sure it's not a cat."

He didn't check on it.

So then the 3rd night I ventured out to the barn, and the animal MOVED! I scrambled back to the house and hollered for Aaron to come help me.

We went back to the barn and found that it was a skunk...the first skunk I've ever met...and he was awfully cute and scared and I thought of how he had been starving for at least 3 days and it pained my heart. So I told Aaron that I'd rather not kill it and that it didn't act as though it had rabies or anything, but as this was my first skunk friend, I didn't know what was normal behavior.

So we tried for a half hour to open the live trap (this is not as easy as it sounds) without getting sprayed. Finally, Aaron said to me, "Honey, I don't think we're going to be able to do it. I'm going to have to shoot it." I was sad. I told him not to tell me details. I carried Buster the Cat up to the house, and along the way we heard the gunshot.

So I went inside and sadly drank a beer to chase away the sorrow of losing a dear new friend.

A half hour later, Aaron walked in. "Do you want to hear about it?" he asked, to which I promptly said "No." He told me anyhow.

He shot wide to see how the skunk would react. It curled up into a ball. So he got a stick, got closer to the cage than he ought to, and opened the cage. My skunk friend didn't know what was happening at first, but then he ventured out, ate some snow to quench his thirst, ran 50 feet and then...

he turned around, looked at Aaron, sat up on its hind legs, and chirped at him.

I told Aaron that he was thanking him for saving his life. And this is when I knew just how much Aaron loved me. To save the life of a skunk at the risk of getting sprayed all because I asked him to...what an act of chivalry.

And I love these uber cute bows, too!

You can also find them at Animal Head Gear:

And for kids:

I'm curious...Aunt Judy, if you're reading this, do you know how to make these?

(Click on pictures to go to websites)