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Re: (meteorobs) Skunks




I had my 1995 Perseid maximum observing session pre-empted by a nasty 
encounter with a skunk.  I already knew that there were two or three 
skunks making a home under my garage, presumably because of the safety of 
the fenced-in yard.  The critters like cat food, and also root around for 
earthworms and rodents in our yard.  I had seen them during observing 
sessions before, but they never bothered me except on this one night.  

There was a nearly full Moon on August 12, 1995, but I set my alarm for 
midnight and trudged out to get my chair set up.  The path around my 
garage is only a couple of feet wide, so I didn't have room to move to 
the side when a very agitated skunk ran right into in an attempt to go 
under the garage.  I managed to avoid a direct hit, but enough spray got 
on my clothes that I had to air them out for a week and spend the rest 
of the night washing up.  I didn't see any meteors that night; you might 
say I was skunked!

I was able to observe the next night and on subsequent occasions with no 
problem.  Maybe it had something to do with the Full Moon...

--
Wes Stone <wstone@lclarkdot edu>  Lewis and Clark College, Portland, OR
                 SKYTOUR Amateur Astronomy Hypertext:
          http://www.lclarkdot edu/~wstone/skytour/skytour.html


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