Cute story from Kenny Nerpel about the skunk.  I hope Kenny will
keep sending the memories of the past as I know he has many. Don’t let
what someone else might say about your memories stop you. Usually those
folks don’t remember what happened and just can’t see how anyone else
can either?  Just write your memories as you have earlier—we love it!
I also have a few skunk stories from over the years here at the farm.
One such episode happened when I was about 12 years old.  The original
tar paper shack and log home that my great grandmother and her kids came
to in 1914,  was still standing and my Grandpa Hans had set a trap for a
pesky raccoon that had gotten in a ripped things up.  Nobody had lived
in the place for 25 years or so but he didn’t want the place wrecked
more than it was. I was out near there hunting ducks with his old
shotgun and found a small skunk in the trap instead of a raccoon.  He
had simply stepped on the trap and it snapped shut on his back foot.  I
thought maybe he was too young to do what skunks do in defense as there
was no smell anywhere around there so I set the old gun down and got a
long stick to see if I could open the trap and let him go.  I pushed the
spring down with the stick and as soon as he pulled his foot out, he
squared off and shot he right on my chin and chest!  I gagged and gasped
and stumbled backward but managed to grab the old shotgun and send him
to meet his maker before I got it again.  At close range like that,  it
isn’t just the smell but so overwhelming it’s hard to even breath.  I
gagged many times on my way back to the house not knowing how I was
going to get rid of the stuff?  I stood outside the door for a while
just thinking what I should do and then my grandma got a whiff through
the screen door and said, “DON’T come in here if you got sprayed!”  She
told me to go and take off my jacket and put it in the lake along the
shore and put a rock on it so the waves could wash it for a while.  I
did that and washed my chin and neck as best I could and by the late
afternoon,  my old jean jacket had been cleared of the smell.  The old
folks always seemed to know how to handle things as they had nearly
always seen them before. Thanks Gary!

Dick