~!skunked!~

Off-topic
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I’ve found animals to be a bit of a wildcard when riding my unicycle.

Some dogs, like my own, hardly seem to notice the uni, while others completely lose their minds. It seems to make no difference if it’s a dog I’m familiar with or not. Maybe it’s the tall, upright posture that freaks them out.

This was on my mind when I saw a deer on the levee road two days ago. She really didn’t know what to make of me. I spotted her crossing the road about a quarter mile ahead of me, and she turned, saw me, and froze. She continued to stare at me until I was about 100’ away, I was about to dismount before getting any closer, when she finally shrugged and turned into the bushes. Seriously, the deer actually shrugged, and it felt as if I had been dismissed. :thinking:

The last night, around 10:00 PM, I experienced the granddaddy interaction of them all. I playing on my 20” wheel on the sidewalk in front of my house and I decided to take a quick spin around our city block. The air was cool and pleasant, and I was riding slowly because of the dim light. I made the final turn of the block heading back to my house and found myself staring down the business end of a juvenile skunk. Before I could dismount, swerve, or do much of anything, he let fly and sprayed me and my unicycle as I careened past. I jumped off my uni and ran in the opposite direction as Pepe scampered away. Wow. Skunks smell really awful up close. It hardly even smells like skunk when it’s really concentrated, more like hair perm and burning tire. :astonished:

Anyhoo, a mixture of diluted vinegar, baking soda, and dish soap does a fair job of washing off the oil and neutralizing the smell, but you have to get every last droplet. I’m still a little smelly today after several showers.

Does anyone else have any interesting animal encounters while riding?

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Wow. And in Sacramento! I hope that never happens to me. At our new house, there are skunks around. We had one in our back yard last year, which took an interest in a yellow-jacket nest in a hole in the ground back there. It was actually eating the bees! So now I’m a skunk fan (as long as he stays off the patio). I’ll point out they don’t stink when they aren’t using that nasty stuff to defend themselves; I don’t remember any smell at all from our backyard skunk.

Just keep 'em happy…

Animals can indeed act funny when seeing a unicycle, including dogs. I’ve gotten some good stares and head tilts from them. I think it’s a combination of the different shape of a person on a unicycle, combined with the different body language of riding one. We don’t look anything like a person riding a bike, for example, especially if we’re beginners and use a lot of extra body language to stay balanced.

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Haha, hair perm and burning tire is a great description for fresh skunk spray. Hope you’re smelling a little fresher now.

I totally got leg humped by a squirrel last year. I was taking a break and he just jumped me out of nowhere. Thankfully I had leg armor on. I had to actually smack him off my leg with my unicycle. Squirrels, man.

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I’ve lived in this house for 13 years, and a couple of years ago we started having a skunk problem for the first time. I think it’s all the construction they’re doing around here. A lot of virgin land near the neighborhood is gettin’ dug up and turned into hotels and such. I’ve been in the neighborhood for about 20 years (this is my 3rd house in this area), and I’m seeing wildlife I’ve never seen around here before like coyotes, bobcats, and now skunks. I’m sure they were always there hiding out in the woods, but that’s all gone now. :frowning:

A couple of skunks made it into our backyard and sprayed the dog twice about a year or two ago. The smell from a distance is bad enough, but up close is truly terrible and takes on a completely different aroma, so I sympathize with you, Geolojas. I’m really glad I’ve never been sprayed directly, but I’ve had many spray within a few feet of me, and that was bad enough. I guess I’ve always gotten lucky they’ve never sprayed me directly.

Sounds like you used the right stuff to clean up with. That’s what I used on the dog, and it worked fine. Hopefully, I’ll never have to use it on myself!

We called the city after the dog got sprayed the second time, and they said they would come out and trap them, but they’d have to kill them on our property before they retrieved the traps. I think they say that since they know most people won’t like it, and it worked on me. Growing up in Texas, I’ve killed a few animals in my life for food or safety reasons, but for some reason, that just seemed wrong. I guess I’m turning into an old softie in my 40’s. I decided to fix the fence where they couldn’t get in, and either the fence is keeping them out, or they’re not around here any more for one reason or another. If they do come back, I’ll just try to fix the fence again, and if all else fails, I now own humane traps, and I could possibly trap 'em and transport 'em somewhere out of the city, provided I could borrow a truck with an open bed! :slight_smile:

Hope you manage to avoid them in the future!

I have to admit, I’ve always hated skunks, but when I read John’s post about them eating wasps (which I hate waaay more than skunks), I have a newfound respect for them. Wasps are a big problem around here, and anything that kills them is my friend.