Skunkology 101

I last wrote about skunks when I was that one getting dosed, so I thought I would tell another story where I was the witness and not the witnessee.  In college there was a guy that was from one of the European countries (Sweden, I think) and he was there to take the HTM course.  He said he wanted to learn all he could so that he could go back to his country and start a training stable with his Dad.  He was a pretty good guy, but we sure had a hard time understanding him sometimes.  So we did our darnedest to incorporate him in a wild cowboy lifestyle.  Fortunately for him he was somewhat immune to our cowboyology lessons.  But sometimes his curiosity got the better of him.

One of my buddies, Guy, was the RA for our dorm.  Meaning he was tasked with keeping some order, I think mainly on Rod, Matt and I.  I would like to think there were others that were just as wild, but I never really saw any of them.  But, I digress.

The walkway from the dining hall area and the boys dorm was glass on both sides.  One evening someone noticed a skunk through the glass.  We all knew to pretty much stay away from them.  But Jan (pronounced yawn), I guess, had never seen a skunk and his curiosity got the better of him.  Guy volunteered (that’s what I’ll call it, anyway) took him outside for a closer look and teach him some things about skunks.  You have to understand where they were going was like a box canyon, one way in and on way out. 

Most of us were watching through the glass, morbid curiosity I guess.  Guy had a wild streak in him and did like the practical jokes, so we just knew there was something about to happen.  When they were approaching the skunk he was facing the glass (I guess it was a he, none of us got brave enough to introduce ourselves!), but with the racket Jan was making the skunk turned around to face them (lucky them).

What happened next is hard to say, because at that moment the skunk sprayed the glass.  Not only does skunk oil stink, but it makes a terrible glass cleaner too.  The glass was so covered with skunk spray all you could really see was shapes.  Two big ones and one tiny black one.  Jan and Guy were hollering and yelling trying to vacate the area as fast as they could.  They came roaring in the dorms, bringing with them their new odor.  Of course, this was the funniest thing most of us had seen in a few days so the laughing went on for some time. 

I don’t think either one of them got a full on spray, but they did get some of the fall out.  It hung on for a day or two, but the memory has hung on for a lot longer!  Guy, who is a successful reining horse trainer now, was always one who would gladly suggest crazy things to do…but always seemed to avoid the fall out.  Does that make him a chicken or smart?  I don’t know, there is a fine line there.  Jan learned that curiosity didn’t kill the cat, but it sure would get him sprayed by a skunk!  I think he passed Skunkology 101 with flying colors!