Wednesday, June 01, 2011

Evening Walks are Fraught with Danger!

I thought it was bad getting ambushed by tree branches on last evening's walk, but tonight I was nearly attacked by a skunk. Yes, my legs are still trembling as I share this dreadful encounter.

First of all, that was no drizzle pounding on my hood. But I had to look up and allow my face to get rained on so that I could view the beauty of the rainbow in the dark gray eastern sky, as well as the varying shades of pink clouds as the golden sun sank into the blue skies to the west. I strode much further than I intended, enjoying the beauty of this spectacle in spite of the pattering raindrops. On my way back, I rejoiced as the showers let up slightly...and then I saw it.

An innocent looking little black creature with the tell-tale white stripe down its back, loping along the fence line and frightening the sheep on the other side of the road. Suddenly it veered toward me and ran in the middle of the road just ahead of me. I slowed my steps, and I believe it slowed also. Finally it continued to the side of the road ahead of me, its tail waving menacingly. I became extremely warm and had to unzip my coat. Was I going to throw up? My legs felt weak...I crossed the road, desperate to avoid the threat of eau de skunk. Finally, a long quarter of a mile later, or maybe it was a tenth, but it was a long tenth if that's what it was, the skunk disappeared into the grass of the field. I continued home unscathed. Sort of. But I'm either getting sick or I'm allergic to skunk because I still feel physically shaky! Weird, huh. No, I'm sure it's perfectly normal. And I'm not even going to try to edit this down to fit Facebook's stupid 420 characters for a wall post!

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