I love living in the country. I really do. It's nice to not deal with asshole neighbors, traffic, noise, and all that stuff.

There is a drawback though................................................................................

ASSHOLE PORCUPINES!!

Lately, there is at least one porcupine in the yard at night, usually there are 2 though. My breaking point was a couple of weeks ago when there were 4!  Really, the porcupines wouldn't be an issue if we didn't have dogs. Homer got quilled once years ago, and that seemed to have taught him a lesson. Reuben is another story though. I don't know if he'll ever learn, so having porcupines in our yard is an issue.

Here's how it works. Once it gets dark out, if the dogs need to go outside, I have to go out and check the yard first. If there are any of the rodents out there, I have to chase them off. This can take a little time. Bet you didn't know that they are kind of slow, clumsy and bumbling. They do not throw their quills and they won't chase you. When they get scared, they put their quills up and turn their backs to you. You would actually have to walk up to one and touch the quills to get any stuck in you. Reuben has done this.....more than once.

So I finally asked Ryan if he thought that I could shoot them. Take in mind, I've never shot anything in my life. I actually have never even fired a gun. He laughed at me. Doesn't matter though, because as I started looking online all about porcupines and ways to get rid of them, I realized how cute their little faces are. They are also peaceful animals and that just did it for me right there. I can't shoot them.

Ryan can shoot them though, and that he did! Another porcupine fact- they sleep in trees and can be hard to spot. Ryan did find one though. Yes he shot it, and it fell from the tree, and yes I felt soooo bad. Not so bad though that I don't want him to shoot the rest of the little bastards and get them out of my yard. Next time, I won't be watching though.