Non-Stinkers

I didn't leave work as early as I probably should have tonight. The only impact there is to me - I get less done at home, but (theoretically anyway) more done there.  Productivity notwithstanding, tonight I got home while it was still light enough to bring the bins up from the curb without fear of startling any local wildlife of the fragrant type.

Bins in, I started the dishwasher while the the pitcher filled to water the hanging plants. Second trip with the pitcher to clean and refill the bird bath, light the citronella candles and sit for a bit on the porch to reply to a text from The Boy.  It got progressively darker as I moved from texting to checking email on my phone, idly noticing the bat over the driveway making his nightly rounds.

Some small, odd noise caught my attention. It sounded as though it were on the porch ceiling and I wondered if it were possible a bat had gotten under the roof to hunt for bugs. Some may have been concerned at that notion, but I was merely curious, and the light from the candles was sufficient to keep me from seeing clearly. Even had I extinguished them, I didn't have my glasses, so it would not serve to improve my view at all, and so I left things as they were.

A second round of noises, these seeming to come from out in the garden caused me to sit more upright and really look outwards.  The motion light on the garage gable was still on from my trip in with the bins, and in it's light I saw them...a small gaggle of young skunks. They were traveling in that way unique to skunks in a group, where it seems one must always be touching another, the whole mass shifting and changing so that as you look you are never really quite sure how many of them there are.

They waddled along, clearly on a mission of import, for it was no casual noseying along I'm accustomed to seeing from the locals...up along the side parking area, onto the lawn and away out of sight down the side of the house.  The vision brought a smile.  I find them adorable neighbors, and since I heard them but never smelled them, their presence was nothing but delightful.  I blew out my candles and went in then, out to the back deck in the hopes that I would be able to see them in the ever-decreasing light, waddling along, touching one another, exploring the brush line.  Alas, they had gone.  I hope they come by again soon.