Dead skunk in the middle of the road...

"Take a whiff on me, that ain't no rose!

Roll up your window 'n hold your nose

You don't have to look 'n you don't have to see

'Cause you can feel it in your olfactory…"

Loudon Wainwright

Skunks are fearless critters…they pretty much wander at will 'n  'most other critters give 'em a wide berth as much as possible…seems like nobody wants to argue right of way with a skunk…'cept people in automobiles, I guess…

Now Mama Skunk has been leading her brood out 'n about the village for weeks now…the baby skunks are getting up there in size tho' not as big as Mama yet…guess they must be teenage skunks…anyway, one of 'em ain't gonna get any bigger 'cuz he (or she, I dunno 'n ain't gonna find out) done got flattened while crossing Fair Oaks Boulevard down by the water company…'n I can't think of a business where a dead skunk in the middle of the road makes a plainer statement than Fair Oaks Water…

Now I've heard that a skunk'll make a nice pet 'n if you got one, I guess I'll take your word for it…got a fellow visits the Avenue periodically claims he's had several 'n he's never had one that had the scent gland removed…I told him he wuz probably braver than Gunga Din but he didn't know who Gunga Din wuz 'n I didn't feel like explaining Kipling to a man that had kept several skunks as pets…I asked him if his skunks had ever got upset 'n sprayed near him 'n he said as how they had but it didn't really bother him none…I couldn't think of anything to say about that so I changed the subject of the conversation to fishing…turns out he wuz something of an avid fisherman also which I ain't so I just nodded at what I tho't wuz appropriate times until I tho't I heard Millyrose calling me…

Sometimes, it's good to have extraordinary hearing...