AN ENCOUNTER WITH MIZZ MA'M'SELLE HEPZIBA

JUST OUT FOR A STROLL IN THE SUNSHINE...

...BUT DON'T THINK I'M AN EASY PICKUP!

Sunday, 8:30 AM.  36 degrees F, up from much colder earlier. The sky is mostly clear, with some scattered clouds and haze.  The wind is variable, with moderate gusts. The humidity is 75% and the barometer has dropped to 29.96".  We are bracing for another storm from out of the west.
   On the way to the recycle center yesterday we came across a skunk just strolling along the side of Townsend Road.  Joan saw it first and I had to back up a ways to take these photos.  Skunks don't see very well and we got quite close, but I rolled up the window and drove off when it turned around and began to raise its tail...a rather ominous sign.
   Buddy wanted badly to make friends but had to be satisfied with looking out the window.  I have had dogs sprayed by skunks and it is a most unpleasant experience. A tomato juice bath is the only antidote I know for the nauseating stench.  Dogs, by the way, are the only animals dumb enough to attack a skunk; except for the great horned owl, which is reputedly its only real predator.  Maybe the owls hold their noses.
   Skunks don't really hibernate, but do become very inactive and stay denned up most of the winter.  I have read that the females  den together, but that the males are solitary.  We did not investigate as to this individual's gender, although it looked rather pretty and dainty, at least for a skunk.
  Remember the femme fatale lady skunk, Mizz Ma'm'selle Hepziba, in the old Walt Kelly comic strip, Pogo?  Beautiful, flirty,  but oh, so unapproachable!