Althouse: Cyclist's wildlife encounter...

August 20, 2016

Cyclist's wildlife encounter...

35 comments:

Ron said...: Some days you're the bicycle....some days you're the skunk.; 8/20/16, 9:55 AM
Paul said...: I came across a baby skunk on a bike trail once. I stopped six or eight feet from him and he "charged" me. I backed up and after a few seconds he appeared satisfied I'd been sufficiently intimidated and he trundled off into the tall grass. Cute!; 8/20/16, 10:03 AM
David Begley said...: Cyclist must have used Blue Emu™. He didn't stink.; 8/20/16, 10:15 AM
YoungHegelian said...: Thank God Mom didn't decide to raise a stink!; 8/20/16, 10:31 AM
MathMom said...: This family certainly appears to be goal-oriented. They jog down the lane, stop for a moment to check out the bicyclist, then take off again at a jog. What puts a skunk family in such a rush? Are they late for school?; 8/20/16, 10:35 AM
Roughcoat said...: Oh, jeez ... one of my border collies got skunked two days ago. She stinks, the whole house stinks ... like burning rubber and asparagus piss and cauliflower farts and the sulphers of Hell ... Illinois is infested with skunks, lately. You see whole families of them crossing the street of my neighborhood at night, mother and a line of little skunk-lets. Coyotes, get to work, do your job!; 8/20/16, 10:37 AM
n.n said...: With an impending WMD threat, the cyclist's calm and collected manner prevented a certain crisis.; 8/20/16, 10:47 AM
rhhardin said...: There's skunk remedy for dogs on the internet, involving hydrogen peroxide, baking powder and soap, that the vet claims works fine.; 8/20/16, 11:10 AM
Bad Lieutenant said...: WS Burroughs wrote for one of his characters:

Once Kim found a baby skunk in a field and petted it and decided it was the cutest thing he ever saw.

... so, Ann, how much tomato juice does it take to marinate your meat? I mean, your Meade?; 8/20/16, 11:10 AM
Paul Snively said...: One of the pastors my church had when I was a child was also a good family friend. When their family went on vacation, they asked us to care for their pet skunk. Sure enough, they had a denatured skunk, which they brought to our house. It turns out skunks are very friendly and affectionate! And, as we can see here, curious!; 8/20/16, 11:12 AM
Anonymous said...: Close encounter of the stinky kind. Good thing he didn't move.; 8/20/16, 11:13 AM
Roughcoat said...: rhhardin -

I'll give it a try. Using store-bought stuff now, not very effective.; 8/20/16, 11:13 AM
rhhardin said...: Massengill vinegar and water douche has no effect, contrary to advice going around.; 8/20/16, 11:22 AM
gspencer said...: It was an Olympic cross-country race.; 8/20/16, 11:37 AM
FullMoon said...: "Leftist agitators employed fascist tactics at a Donald Trump fundraiser in Minneapolis on Friday night.

Video shows protesters banging on the doors of the Minneapolis Convention Center where Trump was speaking to attendees.

When the event concluded, Trump supporters were forced to run a “gauntlet,” with many, including elderly women, being punched and pelted with garbage."; 8/20/16, 12:10 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: Here, the problem for cyclists, as well as drivers, is what I call "pre-venisons". Many days I wonder about Darwin, when I see how the deer here react to humans. Or don't. I learned not to honk at them, because it is often counter-productive - often just melting down, instead of jumping one way or the other. The flip side of the problem of too many too tame deer is that the highway through town is a popular route through MT for bicyclists (and for 18 wheelers, which is why I would never bike there). The good and the bad is that you are more unlikely to kill the pre-venisons on a bike, but also less likely to have a firearm handy to put the injured ones out of their misery.; 8/20/16, 12:20 PM
Bad Lieutenant said...: By pre-venisons do you mean baby deer? I wonder if they are tastier or more delicate, as veal is as compared to beef. But I suppose no one will ever know, as doubtless killing a baby deer buries you under the brig, both legally and socially.; 8/20/16, 12:28 PM
smitty said...: I once encountered a skunk while taking an evening walk. It was a mutual surprise, he stopped, I stopped. His tail went up and I beat a hasty retreat, the skunk went about his business.; 8/20/16, 12:41 PM
ndspinelli said...: I saw Loudon Wainwright 3 perform back in the 70's when his Dead Skunk was a hit. He was drunk as a skunk. Bad performance.; 8/20/16, 1:21 PM
Etienne said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 8/20/16, 1:22 PM
Etienne said...: ...but Meade had a different point of view about how it (the spam) looks. He said it makes the blog seem more professional and successful!

You better go see what he's sprinkling on his cocoa-puffs.

I think he's been going down to the hood and smoking his lawn at the Tender Trap strip club.

Color me gone.; 8/20/16, 1:25 PM
Marc in Eugene said...: This was on Fb yesterday and while 99.9% of the time I resist clicking on posts about animals &c I will admit this made me quite cheerful: their sounds are very clever and amusing.; 8/20/16, 1:59 PM
TML said...: rhhardin, we have put that recipe to the test and it worked pretty darned well. Took two applications. But most pleased. It was our dog Fig who got nailed good.; 8/20/16, 2:30 PM
Megaera said...: TML: I was going to endorse rhhardin's suggestion, having used it on my own dogs with genuine, non-transitory success, AOT many commercial products -- just note that the hydrogen peroxide tends to have a slight greying/bleaching effect on black dogs. Still, preferable to the untreated alternative, trust me.; 8/20/16, 3:18 PM
Michael The Magnificent said...: There's skunk remedy for dogs on the internet, involving hydrogen peroxide, baking powder and soap, that the vet claims works fine.

My cousin has had to de-skunk her dog several times. Hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, and Dawn dishwashing liquid. The Humane Society has the recipe.; 8/20/16, 3:55 PM
HoodlumDoodlum said...: Lil' skunks are cute; baby skunks are extra cute (esp. those lil' noises they made while skunk-vestigating). The best part was watching them hustle off down the trail to get on with their skunk business.

But..."family?" I didn't see no skunk daddy, Professor. #SkunkDadsMatter; 8/20/16, 4:54 PM
Marc in Eugene said...: Perhaps that was the papa skunk? #SkunksGenderRoleFluidityMatters; 8/20/16, 5:41 PM
wildswan said...: A tomato juice bath reduces the smell.; 8/20/16, 5:44 PM
Clyde said...: Speaking of skunks, Hillary Clinton flew 20 miles today on her private jet from Martha's Vineyard to Nantucket. How much carbon did that put into the air? I guess we can add "climate criminal" to her lengthening rap sheet.; 8/20/16, 6:45 PM
rhhardin said...: Allegators Block Trump Motorcade, Jump on Vehicle; 8/20/16, 7:30 PM
HoodlumDoodlum said...: Marc Puckett said...Perhaps that was the papa skunk? #SkunksGenderRoleFluidityMatters

Marc, you think MALES take care of children? What about patriarchy, making women do all the work? What about women making 70% of what men make--you think skunks are immune from the harm of the (straight, white) patriarchy? Who's being naive now, Marc.

Now, if you said maybe that skunk is transexual, or identifies as a male skunk, you might have a point.; 8/20/16, 7:49 PM
chickelit said...: Link to helpful video on de-skunking dogs: here; 8/20/16, 8:56 PM
Marc in Eugene said...: HoodlumDoodlum, An unsourced assertion at Wikipedia claims, "The male plays no part in raising the young"; of course that may just be someone being an over-zealous partisan of gender identity/GLBQXYZ politics. :-); 8/20/16, 9:49 PM
HoodlumDoodlum said...: "The male plays no part in raising the young"

Typical skunk splooge stooges.; 8/21/16, 2:46 AM
Bad Lieutenant said...: "The male plays no part in raising the young"

That skunk!; 8/23/16, 8:40 PM