With the onset of cooler temperatures, Hobkin has gotten really mellow and, if it’s possible, even more snugglesome. He’s been cuddling up with me every night, crawling up beside me and into my arms, and wedging his little head under my jaw. His winter coat has definitely come in, and he’s all soft and fluffy. It’s like hugging a living, snuffling stuffed animal. The only downside is that he tends to wake up about half an hour before my alarm goes off, and then demand his breakfast. And last night he stuck his nose in my ear. His whiskers woke me up, but at least I woke up giggling.
I’m beginning to totally stress about my mother’s visit. As Matthew pointed out, if we don’t come up with things to do while they’re down here, we’ll end up sitting together, making chit-chat, and staring at each other. My personal definition of hell right there. But I don’t want to think about it, so I procrastinate. Argh. It’s so stupid. She’s only going to be here for two days! I ought to be able to handle two days without imploding. Dammit.
Dumb question alert- do skunks hibernate? He must be getting pretty big by now- I think new skunk photos are in order! 🙂
And here’s hoping that the two day visit passes smoothly and quickly…
I’ve never heard of skunks hibernating. They do like to put on a little extra weight in the mistaken belief that they’ll need it to ward against the severe want and hunger of the winter months. *snort* Silly beastie. And yes, he’s quite pudgy right now. It’d be downright adorable–I can’t help it, I think plump animals are cute–except I’m so worried about his long-term health. But I definitely need to get the digicam out soon to document his pulchritude!
You’re right, skunks don’t hibernate, and they do put on extra weight to ward off the hunger of winter, for good reason. I read a study online somewhere that the biggest killer of skunks isn’t cars, but starving during the winter. Ours just don’t realize that food will always be available. My Maggie has been putting on way more weight than the other two, the reason is she was left at a different skunksitter for the week of D*C. She got fed in a week, what she would normally eat in a month.
Oh, I totally believe that wild skunks need that extra padding to make it through the cold months. But our silly domesticated companions don’t, they just think they do.
Poor Maggie! Well, actually, she’s probably pretty happy about the whole more food thing. But still . . .
Maggie is extremely happy about the whole food thing! Unfortunately, she’s naturally a very large/long skunk anyway, so this just makes her that much stronger. She’s one of the largest framed females around. Somehow I ended up with two very large framed skunks (Luke and Maggie) and one little munchkin skunk (Siobhana). The other two tower over her.
Awww! Do Maggie and Luke pick on Siobhana?
No, not a bit. They don’t pick on Jezebel either, my other skunk that I don’t have right now due to medical problems. They pick on any other skunk here though. The three rescues I had didn’t have a chance, they were picked on mercilessly.
“Ought to be able to” is kind of the key phrase there. My mom and dad announced they were coming to visit my brother (who was staying at my house watching my son while we were in Vegas). They announced this the night before I had to leave – ARGH! I was stressed and I wasn’t even going to be here with them!
If you need help coming up with stuff to do here in Atlanta, let me know and I will see what I can do. 😀