Up Close and Personal

Yesterday (Monday) I spent most of the day resting, because of the energy expended on Sunday. I always try to look at it as so much better than last year at this time, so I don't become discouraged! Last night I had a full night's sleep, only awakening once and dropping right off again. So this morning when I heard John getting ready to take the dogs on their morning walk I asked to go along. I think John was surprised, one, because I am usually not up that early and two, because I usually do not have the energy. He immediately accepted, even though it meant he would have to go a tad slower than he was used to.

The air was cool, but moist after two days of rain. I think it's supposed to rain today as well. We were surrounded by birdsong, especially Titmice and Towhees. As we were going past the wildlife preserve the unmistakable odor of skunk wafted around us for several minutes and it brought back an interesting experience we had several years ago.

We were still living in Charleston and had taken the camper to Table Rock State Park in the mountains. After settling in and enjoying the park that first day, the children had gone to sleep and John and I stretched out on full length folding chairs to talk and rest. After it had gotten quite dark, we noticed several animals moving about in the shadows cast by the yellow outdoors light from the camper. Suddenly they came right toward us, sniffing the ground and looking for any bits of food. There were at least 8 skunks, black and white, blond and black, black, white and blond. They acted as if we weren't there and we just froze. Several went right underneath our legs on the chair, bumping against us with their backs. All I could think of was how horrible it would smell if all of those skunks were upset at once! We sat still and did whisper to each other once or twice, and they just ignored us, continuing their search for any crumbs of food in the campsite. Eventually, they left as nonchalantly as they had entered, and we were able to take a deep breath! I'm still amazed at the variety of colors and patterns I saw. I wish I had had my camera, but then again, that might have been the one thing they would not have liked!


Earlier this year, we found a dead skunk in the road in front of our house and the dogs were all excited and wanted to use it as a toy. Visions of having to purchase a case of tomato juice to bathe two dogs outside in icy weather quickly convinced us that the only thing to do was to bury it as soon as possible. We dug a hole by the side of the road and deposited the skunk. A few months later, I noticed that the skunk, or what was then left of it, had been dug up and taken off somewhere by some animal. The odor still hung in the air around the empty hole in the ground. I'm sure glad it was not on the dogs fur!