Thursday, January 1, 2015

Early Morning Fright

Yep, it's time to pull out the ol' repost. Well, it is #ThrowbackThursday and the first day of the year, so might as well find something from New Year's Day...2008...

Oh my! I saw the skunk!

Streifenskunk (Mephitis mephitis)
Not the actual skunk. I did not stick around long enough to take a pic.
There is a skunk in the neighborhood. The distinctive odor of eau de skunk permeates the air every so often. But honestly, when I don't smell the skunk, I don't think of the skunk.

So, this morning after returning home from my New Year's Eve out, I went out to retrieve the mail as usual. I noticed the scampering creature but didn't really see it at first. By the time it registered to me that it was a skunk, I was viewing its back end as it was scurrying away from me.

It was black with the very distinctive white markings. Its tail was in the air--a black tail framed in white. I saw all of this as the skunk jumped off the sidewalk and into the gutter. Then it disappeared under the sidewalk into a storm drain.

Very carefully I continued on my way to the mailbox, traversing the sidewalk right above where the skunk had disappeared moments earlier. Then I practically ran to the mailbox and returned to my home just as quickly. My heart was racing, but luckily the neighborhood stink bomb did not return.

I'm sure glad Pepe Le Peu picked flight over fight. I don't even want to think about how I would have gotten rid of skunk stench in the wee hours of New Year's Day.

8 comments:

  1. Oh we have skunks here and one was coolly walking down the sidewalk toward me and my dog once...I crossed the street. Another time, I heard my dog barking and Katie came to me and I let her in since I smelled a skunk...too late! She got skunked and it went through my house. It was not good

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  2. I think you were wise to get inside as quick as you could. One time walking koda we saw the back of a skunk about 20 yards away, we turned around very fast.

    Betty

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  3. So glad you got past the skunk without being sprayed. Although I remember my days of going out and staying out late--I always reeked of smoke because bars and clubs were smoking-allowed back then. A skunk might have been a welcome scent compared to reeking of smoke!

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    1. One of the myriad reasons I was never much for clubs and bars.

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  4. I've smelled a de-skunked skunk at a zoo once and that was bad enough so I can only imagine what an 'entire' skunk smells like. They look so cute. Such a shame they smell so bad.

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    1. They only smell bad when they spray. If they're minding their own business, then they smell like any furry creature, I expect.

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  5. So glad you didn't get sprayed! I wouldn't been worried too.

    When I lived on Long Island, there were no skunks. But now in New England, I smell them once in a while. I don't want to see them!

    Happy New Year, Liz!

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    Replies
    1. I prefer to see them from the window of my car.

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