What is a Stoat?

THIS POST IS DEDICATED TO MY FAVORITE ANIMAL LOVING FRIEND, ENO.

When she heard the first part of this story, she chastised me for not capturing the "exotic pet" and bringing it to her. Here's to you Friend!

So if you know me even just a little bit, then you acknowledge that stuff happens to me. Weird stuff. I don't go looking for it. Honestly. I'm just a magnet for strange occurrences. Which isn't all bad. I love a good story and God indulges that passion by giving me plenty of my own.

If you have been my friend at all, then I am sure you have heard the story about this:

The Frilled Lizard (yes, sometimes referred to as a frilled DRAGON!) that tried to eat my daughters while I napped. Yes, it was inside my house. Yes, it puffed out its weird face and hissed at me. Yes, I had my teenage neighbor son whack it with a shovel and kill it. And cut off its slithering tail. Yes, I had nightmares for months.

Yes, animals WERE absolutely harmed in the making of this post!

If we know each other and you are not just a stranger reading this blog, then you have heard this whopper of a tale in great detail with lots of drama (making light of the fact that I LEFT my daughters in the house WITH the dragon while I ran to get the neighbor boy.). Not a shining mothering moment. Did I mention that it is much bigger in real life than the tiny image up top? And it hissed? 

I DID return with a brave knight to slay the dragon. That is some redemption--yes?

Anyway, fast forward 5 or 6 years. Yesterday I was reading aloud on the couch. My "Boy Who Cannot Sit Still" was pacing around the open screen door. He screeched and ran out to the front yard.

"MOOOOOOOM! Did you just see that?" And he was gone.

We jumped up and followed him. He stuttered and ranted about a red furry creature with a long tail with a black tip. He said it was fast! Though we hunted, the rest of us found no proof of a critter in the front yard. We were walking back in the house having a "teachable moment" about being courteous to our siblings and not discounting what they say automatically, saying the "L" word,  and implying by our responses that we think they are crazy.

Just as we stepped back into our living room and Kate was telling everyone she was sure it a cat. And Aidan insisted that it was red and long-torsoed--not like any cat he had seen,  Reilly commented calmly, "Does it look like THAT?" pointing to the animal running across my BACK yard now. It was fast. It did have red fur. The long tail had a black tip. Its belly was white and it had small ears. And...well, it looked like this:

And if you are like me and have never seen a creature like this around the neighborhood (OR IN THE ZOO!?!?!), let me inform you that is called a Stoat. It is a part of the weasel family. I did not know that at the time.

So I called my animal-loving, vet-major, zoology-teaching friend, Eno (see above) and began my hurried description of the animal we were tracking.  By this time our dog Sadie had it cornered.

This time I wasn't going to let Eno down. We would capture it and make her proud!

I sent each kid out with a basket or bucket. While she was google-ing images trying to find one that matched our excited details, Sadie rushed at the cornered creature and it darted right towards us.

Screaming ensued. Leaping and squealing and fleeing in panic.

This is the fearsome creature that darted at us:

We laughed and laughed and laughed when we realized our mistake. Eno was on the phone overhearing our assylum. The only one who didn't find it very amusing was hysterical Peter. Another shining mothering moment! We gave up the hunt after an hour or so. The scared Stoat was hiding out and all seven of us plus a dog weren't going to find it. Thank You, God.

When Eno discovered which animal it was--not a ferret as I first speculated--the kids and I checked it out on wikipedia. Stoat. Good thing that the PREDATORY animal was never captured by my children. When threatened, the stoat "releases a powerful musky (STINKY) scent from the glands in its anus". Nice.