Bipartisan marriage

It's been said on this blog before that I am a huge Obama supporter. It's also been said on this blog before that my husband likes to shoot things. A lot. (read about it here.) So, it should come as no surprise that my husband pulled a double whammy a few months ago. Now, before I tell you this, know that I've known this man for twenty years and very little surprises me anymore. Also know that Tom and I agree on a lot of the issues facing our country today. So, the double whammy I was talking about? Well, my husband of five years joined the NRA and the Republican party on the same day. I KNOW! Crazy, huh?! Now, I'm not sure, but maybe the NRA makes it a prerequisite to be a Republican before they let you join their club. Maybe not. Nevertheless, he is now getting plenty of red, white and blue mail about guns and freedom.

The interesting thing about the NRA development is the fact that Tom has changed his ways when it comes to wild animal control at home.  He has become non-violent. Last year, when we had such trouble with the rabbits eating our gardens, Tom had no trouble whipping out his gun to rain bullets on the back (and front) yards. But times, and tactics, have changed.

We've had a skunk living under our porch for a few weeks now. I had smelled something bad in our garage, but I couldn't identify it. Tom thought that he'd taken care of the problem when he found a dead mouse in an old, expired bag of dog food. Turns out that that was only part of the problematic smell.

During the Fair last month my mom called one night asking if she could drop off her leftover cotton candy. (Hell yes! was my answer.) So, I went to meet her on the front porch and she screamed like their was a masked gunman in my front yard. "Don't come out, Taylor! There's a skunk!" So, mom stayed across the street from my house and I stayed on the porch waiting to see what would happen next. Turns out the skunk ran away, around our house, and no one ever really saw where he went.

So over the last few weeks we've kept our noses keen to finding the skunk. Tom became pretty convinced that he was living under the porch. So in typical Tom fashion he started research techniques to getting rid of skunks, because who wants to be hunting skunks and get sprayed? Not anyone I know. Tom read to sprinkle flour at the entrance of where you think they are living and then wait to find tracks. He did it last night and within 30 minutes of the flour trap being set, he found this:



Tom added hilights so that you can see the footprints.

We were right! There was a skunk under the porch. Needless to say, Tom was extremely excited that his plan had worked. He and I went right out to board the hole up so that he couldn't come back.

Amazingly enough, when we checked our handiwork this morning, the skunk had unsuccessfully tried to dig back into his little home under the porch. Tom's gun-free plan had worked and our home is once again skunk-free.

So, my question is, if I can be happily MARRIED to a Republican, why can't our friends in Washington find common ground?