The Pleasure of Bike Riding in Portland, Oregon



I think most people would prefer to encounter a bear than a skunk.

Never seen a skunk while riding, other than flat on the road that is.
Possum, coyotes, snakes, squirrels (not the homicidal variety, thank
goodness), LOTS of deer since moving to SC. Saw a red fox once.

I lost my sense of smell a long time ago, so an unfortunate encounter
would only make others suffer, unless I got it in the eyes, of course.

- -
Compliments of:
"Your Friendly Neighborhood Wheelman"

If you want to E-mail me use:
ChrisZCorner "at" webtv "dot" net

My website:
http://geocities.com/czcorner
 
From: [email protected] (hal lillywhite)

>Back on the farm we had machinery
>sprayed regularly. The skunk could have
>moved out of the way had it noticed but
>often didn't notice until the machine was
>right on top of it. The reaction was a
>quick squirt of skunk oil and a stinky
>machine. Also often a tailless skunk
>since the machine was often a mower or
>something similar that would clear the
>body but cut off the tail of the animal.


Would that be called a "Sawed off shotgun"? ;-3)

- -
Compliments of:
"Your Friendly Neighborhood Wheelman"

If you want to E-mail me use:
ChrisZCorner "at" webtv "dot" net

My website:
http://geocities.com/czcorner
 
Tom Keats wrote:
> In article <[email protected]>,
> [email protected] writes:
>> On Sep 12, 8:58 pm, "David L. Johnson" <[email protected]>
>> wrote:
>>> Paul Berg wrote:
>>>> Poster's comment: The bicyclist must have never biked by City Hall, for
>>>> there are a good number of skunks there.
>>> Apparently the poster knew very little at all about skunks, or he/she
>>> would have done anything but stop and watch.

>> I've had two VERY close encounters with skunks.

>
> I've had many.
>
> They're very sociable, and they enjoy the company
> of humans who don't freak them out or startle them,
> or run them over with cars.


Skunks are frequent visitors to our urban (Boston) yard. On a couple of
occasions I've seen our cat ambling along, side-by-side, with one (he's
a very sociable cat). He's never been sprayed.
 
Peter Cole wrote:

> Skunks are frequent visitors to our urban (Boston) yard. On a couple of
> occasions I've seen our cat ambling along, side-by-side, with one (he's
> a very sociable cat). He's never been sprayed.


Of course if the cat were to threaten the skunk said cat might need
more than its standard bath. Back on the farm it seemed every dog we
had managed to have at least one encounter with a skunk and come back
with the olfactory evidence.

The worst case of this I ever heard of was our neighbors who got a
couple of chichuachuas and made a little doggie door so they could
enter and leave the house at will. One night one of those dogs
tangled with a skunk, then went in and rolled all over the living room
floor trying to get the stuff off. And that was the night after a
brand new white carpet was installed in that living room. I don't
know what the did about it but I'm sure that dog was in the doghouse.
 
hal lillywhite <[email protected]> wrote:

> The worst case of this I ever heard of was our neighbors who got a
> couple of chichuachuas and made a little doggie door so they could
> enter and leave the house at will. One night one of those dogs
> tangled with a skunk, then went in and rolled all over the living room
> floor trying to get the stuff off. And that was the night after a
> brand new white carpet was installed in that living room. I don't
> know what the did about it but I'm sure that dog was in the doghouse.
>
>


It's also one of the perils of letting a dog off the leash 50 miles from
home.
 
Tom Keats wrote:
> In article <[email protected]>,
> [email protected] writes:
> > On Sep 12, 8:58 pm, "David L. Johnson" <[email protected]>
> > wrote:
> >> Paul Berg wrote:
> >> > Poster's comment: The bicyclist must have never biked by City Hall, for
> >> > there are a good number of skunks there.
> >>
> >> Apparently the poster knew very little at all about skunks, or he/she
> >> would have done anything but stop and watch.

> >
> > I've had two VERY close encounters with skunks.

>
> I've had many.
>
> They're very sociable, and they enjoy the company
> of humans who don't freak them out or startle them,
> or run them over with cars.
>
> They're not quite as frenetic as ferrets or otters,
> but just as willful. Once you become acquainted with
> 'em and they understand you're no threat to 'em, they
> won't let 'er rip on ya. In fact it's dead easy to
> get 'em to eat outa yer hand.


They will also magically emerge from the rocks gleefully accept the
fish you 'caught for them' and disappear just as fast back into the
rocks. And magically pop out for another fish at a different spot.

> Just don't let them get their claws on ya.
>
> If you befriend a pregnant skunkette, eventually she's
> just gotta drop by and show off her offspring to you,
> who'll follow behing Mom like boxcars behind a locomotive.
> Don't touch them -- just admire and approve of them and
> Mom, and give 'em your positive vibes from a respectful
> distance. They'll give you their positive vibes too. As
> long as you don't hassle them. Skunks are very much like
> humans. I guess that's why they're attracted to us.
> That, and our garbage.
>
>
> cheers,


cool

I bring you redneck kittens:

http://officespam.chattablogs.com/archives/redneck-kittens-13-thumb.jpg
 
In article <[email protected]>,
Peter Cole <[email protected]> writes:
> Tom Keats wrote:
>> In article <[email protected]>,
>> [email protected] writes:
>>> On Sep 12, 8:58 pm, "David L. Johnson" <[email protected]>
>>> wrote:
>>>> Paul Berg wrote:
>>>>> Poster's comment: The bicyclist must have never biked by City Hall, for
>>>>> there are a good number of skunks there.
>>>> Apparently the poster knew very little at all about skunks, or he/she
>>>> would have done anything but stop and watch.
>>> I've had two VERY close encounters with skunks.

>>
>> I've had many.
>>
>> They're very sociable, and they enjoy the company
>> of humans who don't freak them out or startle them,
>> or run them over with cars.

>
> Skunks are frequent visitors to our urban (Boston) yard. On a couple of
> occasions I've seen our cat ambling along, side-by-side, with one (he's
> a very sociable cat). He's never been sprayed.


They enjoy and appreciate a li'l rapportoire.
They also seem to be very itinerate, with their
own circuits within which they range. So they
might be here for a while, then gone, and then
back again at some indeterminable time.

I've experienced hard times, myself. Enough
to recognize and compare the same implusions
in desperate humans as in crows, skunks, racoons
and other people.

The only thing that separates humans from Nature
is money.


cheers,
Tom

--
Nothing is safe from me.
I'm really at:
tkeats curlicue vcn dot bc dot ca
 
Tom Keats wrote:

> Porupines like to gnaw on canoe paddles 'cuz of the
> sweat-salt embedded in 'em.


They'll gnaw on anything that tastes remotely like salt. Even worse
are marmots and other critters dwelling at high altitude. Over the
centuries, precipitation has washed the salt downhill so pretty much
anything that lives at altitude will be salt deficient.

Some climbers have had boots chewed to shreds. They hike in, then
change to their climbing boots for the climb, stashing the hiking
boots for when they return. If they don't hang the boots out of reach
they may have to walk out in their climbing footwear.
 
On Sun, 23 Sep 2007 19:56:37 -0700, hal lillywhite
<[email protected]> wrote:

>
>Tom Keats wrote:
>
>> Porupines like to gnaw on canoe paddles 'cuz of the
>> sweat-salt embedded in 'em.

>
>They'll gnaw on anything that tastes remotely like salt. Even worse
>are marmots and other critters dwelling at high altitude. Over the
>centuries, precipitation has washed the salt downhill so pretty much
>anything that lives at altitude will be salt deficient.
>
>Some climbers have had boots chewed to shreds. They hike in, then
>change to their climbing boots for the climb, stashing the hiking
>boots for when they return. If they don't hang the boots out of reach
>they may have to walk out in their climbing footwear.


I had cycling gloves eaten by some nocturnal critter and continued
the tour without gloves. One layer of cotton handle bar tape only.

After ten days riding mostly chip sealed shoulders it took a few
months for my ring-finger and pinky to "wake-up". Several years later
they still weren't right and got painful when cold. I have permanent
nerve damage as a momento of that tour.

Had I known then what I know now I'd have wrapped the handle bar with
a spare pair of socks.
--
zk
 
Zoot Katz <[email protected]> wrote:

> On Sun, 23 Sep 2007 19:56:37 -0700, hal lillywhite
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>
>>Tom Keats wrote:
>>
>>> Porupines like to gnaw on canoe paddles 'cuz of the
>>> sweat-salt embedded in 'em.

>>
>>They'll gnaw on anything that tastes remotely like salt. Even worse
>>are marmots and other critters dwelling at high altitude. Over the
>>centuries, precipitation has washed the salt downhill so pretty much
>>anything that lives at altitude will be salt deficient.
>>
>>Some climbers have had boots chewed to shreds. They hike in, then
>>change to their climbing boots for the climb, stashing the hiking
>>boots for when they return. If they don't hang the boots out of reach
>>they may have to walk out in their climbing footwear.

>
> I had cycling gloves eaten by some nocturnal critter and continued
> the tour without gloves. One layer of cotton handle bar tape only.
>
> After ten days riding mostly chip sealed shoulders it took a few
> months for my ring-finger and pinky to "wake-up". Several years later
> they still weren't right and got painful when cold. I have permanent
> nerve damage as a momento of that tour.
>
> Had I known then what I know now I'd have wrapped the handle bar with
> a spare pair of socks.


Had I known what I know now, I'd have salted the dog food!
 

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