newest jones family member

well, as many of you know, my parents have a bit of an empty nest now. i got married and moved out in june and lanny is in kazakhstan for six months, so that abruptly left just dad, mom, and ali at home. in the two weeks that lanny and i both moved out, our chihuahua, brutus, that we've had for 8 years was also killed by stray dogs! so that also just left the pet count to ali's cat, nala, which no one really likes that much anyways.

all that to say, my dad really wanted a new pet and couldn't decide between a dog or a pig. my mom was saying absolutely no more animals. (she's not an animal lover). so they've kinda been going back and forth.

this morning my dad woke my mom up and said that he had found their new pet and was taking it to the vet to get checked out. he took my mom out on the back porch and had this animal in the kennel


yes, it is a skunk. my dad had heard somewhere that skunks make great pets, so when he found it by the pool this morning, he decided to make it his pet. (after he realized it was probably his mother that he shot just a couple of days ago). the vet said that in 2 weeks, he will take out his "stink bag" because they don't want to traumatize him right off, and he's too young to spray right now anyways. he needs a bath, but the doc said to wait a couple days, and to use baby shampoo. so now my dad wants to keep this thing in the house. my mom's argument was that the dog we had for 8 years didn't get to live in the house so why should a skunk!? haha, i kinda wish i would have been at home for all this.

so what do you name a skunk? my dad went back and forth between "old spice" and "ralph lauren", both which he thought were hilarious. he has decided on "ralph". and if the vet tells him its a girl, it will then be "ralphie". he's obviously put a lot of thought into it.

dad and ralph. so sweet.

some people would be surprised to hear this story, but oh no, not if you know my dad! oh yeah, and for the record, my mom just told me on the phone that it is actually pretty cute. who knows..this one may last!