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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
References: