Rabid Skunk, Broken Toe, No Foolin'
Three very strange things have happened today:
- first thing in the morning I tripped and fell most of the way down the stairs. Based on the amount my middle toe throbs every time I stand up and that all of the hideous purple is between the joints, it's a possibility (albeit slim) that I broke it. But it's a middle toe, what do you do?
- the other bio prof (our age, my friend), who spent the whole long day at the WV Academy of Science meetings with me on Saturday, and, who would, one would hope, have noticed if I had been whisked to the emergency room in the middle of the meetings before driving home three hours in the rain, came in this morning to commiserate about rabies shots. Equally amusing is she knew exactly which students would have been stupid enough to feed rabid squirrels.
- we have a weird-acting skunk on our property. Researching scientific names for my rodent blog (yes, I know they aren't rodents), the first thing I read about skunks is "Skunks behaving oddly may have rabies and should be avoided."
Are the fates commenting on my April Fool's jokes?
13 comments:
If you need to get rid of the skunk, lead it away with cheese tied to a string. Worked for me (with a raccoon)! I love skunks. A campground we went to often while I was growing up had skunks. I think there might have been spotted skunks too, and some that had a lot of white on them. A variety of skunks. They'd walk by while we sat around the campfire. http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/stateparks/parks/pymatuning.aspx
PS - Sorry about the toe. Maybe you need to have a skunk kiss it! Check out the skunks as pets show!
http://www.skunksaspets.com/show.htm
I'll try this html link thing again.
skunk show
My toe is dramatically enough better to assure me that it is not broken. The skunk did not die in the yard (I think it much more likely that he/she had been hit by a car than had rabies, but either way was not acting "normal")
You just tempted fate too much with such an outlandish April fool's. They came back with an April fool's of their own! (Seems not much harm was done!) I'm glad your toe is better. At one point (early 80's) my mom kept breaking her middle toe on the vacuum cleaner. (I think she resented having to do so much vacuuming). At that time, anyway, there was very little they could do for a broken middle toe. I forget why, but they couldn't even splint it. Just let it heal on its own. She was shocked when, after going to the doctor about it for the umpteenth time, they suggested amputation! She still has all her toes, however, and now hires a cleaner to come and do the floors every so often.
By the way, in the mid and late 80's vacuuming became my job. I still have all my toes, as well. (Actually, I never broke any toes even though I used the same old clunky Hoover.)
I am glad that your toe is getting better and you don't have dead skunk in the yard.
Isn't it more fun when someone believes your April Fools Joke?
"I am glad that your toe is getting better and you don't have dead skunk in the yard."
Is a live, injured skunk hanging out around the house all that much better? The skunk is definitely still around today, though not any healthier or any more threatening.
Ok, I'll admit that I really don't want a dead skunk in my yard.
I don't trust skunks. Never have. But I would feel sorry for one who got hit by a car. That happened to a squirrel in my yard last spring. I despise squirrels and am constantly chasing them off of my bird feeder (canola oil seems to do the trick now). But I felt so sorry for the little guy/girl who was all banged up and cowering in the yard. Fortunately, it crawled off somewhere so I didn't have to watch it suffer. Hopefully your skunk will, too.
Sorry about your toe. I fell down the stairs yesterday, too! Weird. Hope your bruises heal fast.
Yes, the limping skunk made it up to a shed across the street from us. It seems to be a sweet skunk-- I hate to see it suffer-- but it also seems to be rooting around for grubs so doesn't look like it needs a "I'm in distress" whack. Not that I would be dumb enough to whack a skunk. Not that I'd really be good at whacking much of anything.
Hope your toes heals soon also Erin.
I had to whack a chicken once. It was horrible. It may have already been dead and just nerves were twitching, but I found an ax and tried to chop off its head. Don't do that on grass! You'll just keep whacking and whacking and feeling guilty and not really finish it off. Now I know why they put chickens on tree stumps to whack.
Sally's sister...what were the circumstances that led up to that experience?
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