So I went outside after dark to relay grab my dinner from the delivery guy, and I see a creature rooting around the wrought iron fence.
It waddles. It has long fur, black with a double white stripe along its back and tai…
SKUNK!!! THERE’S A SKUNK IN THE YARD!!!
I have lived in this city for over half a century, and I have NEVER seen a skunk running around. I don’t even see raccoons running around. That’s suburban stuff. And not even nearby, citified suburbs like Evanston stuff. Skunks belong out in Elmhurst at least. To hell with that, skunks maybe should be out in Wheaton. Not here where it’s Pulaski Road and not Crawford.
Damn, and I thought what I was smelling sometimes was some particularly pungent marijuana.
I agree! (with rc)
Skunks are super cute. And I don’t even mind the smell. When I lived in San Diego, we had a female who would come back every winter to nest under the house. She got to know us and would stamp her feet and hiss if we got too close but never sprayed. One spring she actually had kits and for a couple months that sound on coach’s video emanated from the floor. As the kits got older they would try our their spraying skills from time to time but it was a very faint almost sweet version of the adult spray.
When summer came they went on their adventure to wherever skunks go, and the next winter mom came back alone. She never got pregnant again, but made her nest every year just in case.
I know what you mean. Back in the day (the seventies) you could tell the smell of good weed from the smell of a skunk. Nowadays, they are practically indistinguishable. And for the record, I have never seen a skunk in my near north Chicago neighborhood. Possums, yes. Rats, lots of 'em. Even the occasional coyote or deer. But no skunks!
I’ve never minded the smell of skunk either, but it has to be off in the distance. Like, if you’re driving and get a few whiffs of one that sprayed way out in a field off the side of the road. The smell of them closeup is too much. Plus, it stings your eyes if it’s really close. I had that happen years ago when I fell asleep in my living room with the windows open. I woke up to my eyes burning and eventually realized that a skunk must have sprayed right outside one of the windows. My eyes were fine after a little while, but the house took a few days to air out.
IME, which isn’t much, skunks don’t generally spray unless provoked. I’ve never seen one do it randomly, but they have sprayed my dogs 5 or 6 times. You’d think the dogs would have learned to stop chasing them around the backyard. The skunks always clearly try to get away first and only resort to spraying if they get backed into a corner.
Even in the 90’s and early 00’s when ‘shwag’ was still the norm and KB (kind bud) was the expensive stuff one of your friends would get from time to time, it was still like that. Most weed smelled like weed, the good stuff smell kinda like skunk. Now, not only does it all smell like skunk, it’s strong enough that you can sometimes walk into a house and know that there’s weed in there somewhere.
It must be a lot harder for kids these days to keep it hidden. I could keep an ounce cheap ditch weed in my backpack or dresser drawer and no one was the wiser. Even in an unsealable baggie, you had to open it up and stick your nose in there to smell it . Having an eighth in your backpack these days is likely to get the attention of a teacher and I have no idea how kids would keep it hidden in their bedroom.
And I’m saying this as someone that has a small amount in an airtight container in a kitchen cabinet and the smell absolutely noticeable in the general area.
Fortunately for them, it’s mostly legal these days! In Illinois, this makes sense, though. We already have one of the highest tax rates in the nation. We might as well have the highest taxpayers, too.
I’m guessing that doesn’t change how their parents feel about it. And I’m assuming, even if it became 100% legal for anyone of any age, it still wouldn’t be allowed on school property.
Well it isn’t legal at any age anywhere. In Michigan you have to be 21, so it’s controlled like alcohol. You don’t see school kids toting bottles of beer to class, so weed on school grounds is still a no-no. Not that it didn’t stop me back in the day . . .
That’s sort of the point I was making. Even if it’s legal, there’s still going to be plenty of situations where it’s not allowed (and you wouldn’t want people to smell it).
