Scent Sensations

I've put the screens down in two windows today - one kitchen, one living room - and the fresh air wafting into both rooms is a welcomed relief. It's actually mixing well with the freshly popped popcorn in the nuker, a snack to spur my muse as I toil in front of the computer today.

I adore spring and, like the rest of the world around me, am reveling in the early glimpse of it that we're getting today. I enjoy listening to all the birds tweeting away, a natural chorus to echo our human glee at the warming weather, occasionally punctuated by the bass note of an owl as we ease into late afternoon. We haven't been lacking in wildlife in my neck of the woods despite what was hopefully the last gasp of a winter storm this week. Yesterday, I pulled into my driveway to do the K turn into my parking spot (MY parking spot! The simple joy of that has yet to fade) and nearly ran over a pair of Mallard ducks in my front patch of yard. As I live on a street with the word "pond" in its name, it's not surprising that it dead ends into a pond, ergo, the ducks. Still, I don't expect them to make the quarter mile journey up the road to my driveway. Looks like the tales of my landlord's generous bird feeders have reached far and wide.

A less welcomed if more common comp squatter made its presence known a little after midnight last Monday evening. I was finally in bed seeking sleep, settled deep with lights off, when an unholy smell barreled through my apartment. Like the singing Whos down in Whoville, it started off slow then it started to grow until it permeated every nook and cranny. Apparently, a skunk had decided that the area right outside my kitchen window was ripe for some skunk fu. Soon after the skunk announced its presence, Baxter came flying into the bedroom and bounced up onto the bed, so I suspect she may have provoked the skunk via a challenging look through the window. I expect the skunk, itself scarred forever after, will spend the remainder of its life whining to its cowed descendants, "I saw something nasty in the window!"

It was some time before I was able to sleep, the malodorous odor enough to wake even the dead. When I left for work the next day, it still permeated the outside air and even the interior of my car reeked. Coming home that night, skunk fu lingered potently and remained in both my apartment and car throughout the week. Last night, four nights after the fact, I had to light candles throughout the apartment to urge the rest of it on its way like some lingering spook that had worn out its welcome.

Now that's some potent skunk.

Much better to have the windows open today with the welcoming fresh scent of spring cleaning everything out. Just in time to herald this change in the weather, we set our clocks forward this weekend, the one time when we actually do control time around us. Still many of us will get it wrong and fall prey to a delayed start. If you're one of those people prone to the folly of mismanaging Daylight Savings changes, fear not!

I have this skunk I can loan you...