Friday Night Photos - OT

Boy this really stinks...
SpottdSknk022721a.jpg

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dystopian's picture

Hope I don't get in trouble... It's after 7 central and see nothing up for this yet so hope I am not stepping on any tootsies... I'll be in and out as was still 'at work'.
It appears my friends have all stepped back quickly and left me volunteered... Wink It really stinks... Smile

This is my prettiest dependent, we met at a mere 3' distance last weekend in the shed. It was hunting Cotton Rats (Sigmodon) so is more than welcome. Lives around here somewhere, but we never smell it. This is a Spotted Skunk. The tiny small ones that climb trees and such. Rarely we smell the Striped Skunk that lives under cottage, only after it had to defend itself. Striped are the better known 'standard basic' skunk a la one of my favorites, Pepe LePue. These Spotted are gorgeous.

SpottdSknk022721b.jpg

Hope everyone is doing well!

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We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

janis b's picture

@dystopian

Thank you for tolerating us ; ).

That sure is a beautiful skunk of yours. Does each one have different markings?

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dystopian's picture

@janis b I don't know if they are fingerprint different or not Janis, good question. Most of the pictures I see of them they look relatively the same. There are two species I think, Eastern and Western Spotted Skunk, and then subspecies within them. For instance there is a subspecies Island Spotted Skunk, found only on Santa Cruz and Santa Rosa Islands, two of the socal channel islands. I used to lead tours to Cruz but never saw one, though it was when fox populations were high, which seems to somewhat coincide with low skunk numbers.

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We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

janis b's picture

@dystopian

because the spotted skunk made me think of cats and how individual their markings.

It's hard to keep the balance between species. It's good that there are those like you who give them exposure and a history.

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@dystopian I spent most of my childhood living in the corn belt of SW Minnesota. Skunks were reasonably plentiful and were tolerated because they ate rodents—a real problem associated with corn production. A couple of kids I knew had pet skunks.

So why did the chicken cross the road? To prove to skunks it could be done. Turns out that even skunks lovers could occasionally run into one with their car. And even if the skunk could not fire his weapon, the smell from the collision would just explode into the night air. So yes, smelling the blast from a dying skunk was quite common to my childhood.

Trust me, you never forget that smell. Also, no matter the name, no pot has ever smelled like a skunk.

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@Jonathan Larson

on the Canadian border some drunk skunk ran under the car.
There was nothing to do but drive down the boat ramp and
put the car in the Muskeesmelly River until the we could breathe
again without gagging. Damn ripe one it was. Had to burn pine
scented incense the whole way home. Phewy. The cats and dogs
stopped pissing on the tires after that.

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Thai navy sailors brave choppy seas to rescue four cats from sinking ship on fire in Andaman Sea
https://news.sky.com/story/thai-navy-in-purr-fect-rescue-of-four-cats-ab... Great leading photo.

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

snoopydawg's picture

@The Voice In the Wilderness

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Happy story. Thanks.

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Lookout's picture

We used to have an albino skunk around here.

Reminds me of the pole cat blues...
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xu_X_HVuv58]

I see them as allies ... they eat grubs (like Jap beetle).

Here's a critter photo taken from the San Juan River. Sorry I don't have a skunk shot.
75 pm canyon sheep to Mex hat (26).jpg

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

dystopian's picture

@Lookout Awesome Bighorn Sheep. Is that San Juan as in Colorado maybe?

An albino skunk is amazing! That is incredible, have heard of them. Was it a Striped or Spotted?

Thanks for the tune!

There is a guy here with a sign for his place that reads "Polecat Heights".

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8 users have voted.

We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

janis b's picture

@dystopian

black skunk blues

[video:https://youtu.be/AdoEqg6RWyQ]

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dystopian's picture

@janis b great tune Janis, thanks!

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We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

Lookout's picture

@dystopian

Along the River. Great trip.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

enhydra lutris's picture

@Lookout

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Socialprogressive's picture

Never seen a spotted skunk before. Didn't even know they existed. Thanks for expanding my animal library.

Male House Finch
_DSC4252_14901.1

Mourning Dove
_DSC4232_14854.1

Immature White-crowned Sparrow
_DSC4280_14926.1

California Towhee
_DSC4260_14909.1

Male and female House Finch
_DSC4293_14937.1

Lizard with lunch
_DSC4301_14942.1

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When I offer to wash your back in the shower, all you have to say is yes or no.
Not all this "who are you, and how did you get in here?" nonsense.

janis b's picture

@Socialprogressive

I really like the mourning dove bathing, and the birdhouse is a beautiful thing. It looks like your rosemary is popular.

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Socialprogressive's picture

@janis b
This time of year when the rosemary flowers are blossoming does attract a lot of visitors.

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8 users have voted.

When I offer to wash your back in the shower, all you have to say is yes or no.
Not all this "who are you, and how did you get in here?" nonsense.

dystopian's picture

@Socialprogressive Awesome bird photos SP! Outstanding! Beautiful!

Looks like a female Western Fence Lizard but not sure, and likely a Cabbage White butterfly.

In the eastern U.S. and Canada the White-crowned Sparrow subspecies have smaller pink bills, and the black like behind eye continues through through it all the way to the bill. I grew up in socal with these orange billed birds. They nest all the way to Alaska and it is not out of the question that some you may have in winter are from that far away.

GREAT pics man! Thanks!

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We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

Socialprogressive's picture

@dystopian
I don't know my reptiles but I do agree the butterfly is probable a Cabbage White and thanks for the info on the White-crowned Sparrow.

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When I offer to wash your back in the shower, all you have to say is yes or no.
Not all this "who are you, and how did you get in here?" nonsense.

snoopydawg's picture

The very 1st whiff of skunk is kinda nice but....yeah what an awful smell.

Went for a drive up where the rich folks live to see the valley. It was as clear as I’ve seen it and I wish I’d gone home and got my camera. Didn’t even think about it till I was home. Bummer. I watched as this storm came in and then left quickly.

Looking mostly south over Hill Air Force base

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More west and towards the lake

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I used to sit in the hot tub up on the north bench and watch the storms come in over the lake all summer. Back when we got monsoon seasons.

My. Ogden and if you look closely you can see the towers on the highest peak.

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The backside was my playground during my youth-er years.

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Did you see the towers? I used to hike up to them every spring with friends and co workers and slide down the snow in garbage bags. Lots of fun and lots of peril when going fast and seeing that rock pile coming up fastly and knowing that wearing a tube top and shorts wasn’t that good an idea. I stopped in time and all the men folks cheered! I’d fallen out of the tube top. lol. Oops too.

2 months apart

835BF3DE-2628-4661-A73E-9DD36E74750B.jpeg

Ack...she’s a gawky teenager already.

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janis b's picture

@snoopydawg

Adolescence ... enjoy!

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snoopydawg's picture

@janis b

I’m way up on the bench. If you look at the Mt Ogden photo there’s a tree almost center and just where the snow ends is where I was but further south. Also if you follow the canyon to just before the end you’ll see a white speck. It’s the waterfall that is a popular hiking trail. I used to be able to reach it just over an hour. I was there about a decade ago with Abby. I’m going to attempt it this year. Wish me luck. Also once my friend and I went all the way to the top and we sat there overlooking the valley.

I keep forgetting the plans I keep making. Best start a list.

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@snoopydawg right on about the elevation, and please do be careful out there you and Sam, always. Don't be a ninny, you know what I mean. Ha ha! No, just be yourself and have have fun. YOLO you only live once

One of the Unloaders I worked with from the bread factory was called J.D., and his motto was "Do things high" because he was six foot four. LOL I'm tall but still couldn't reach the top of his stacked trays, they were artistic creations of balance in a cacophony of clanging machinery and baked oven gas. right on

The only dawg who ever picked me, I named her Ebony because I can't get Adam Curtis out of my head, apparently. Yes, now everything inside my head has been put there by popular culture of course. Injected and reconstituted as my own fine original thought. Original? wat

Did you hear Stevie Wonder is moving to Ghana? Again? I still love this song, and everything it was supposed to represent:

Ebony And Ivory
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4mlhcFKzXQ width:420]
Peace and Love

ebony1.jpg
Ebony gift

ebony2.jpg
Ebony with 'Moussie'
and my sock
---
B. Kliban

love to eat them moussies, moussies what I love to eat,
bite they little heads off, nibble on they tiny feet

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snoopydawg's picture

@eyo

Even more special when she picked you to share her life with. She looks like Abby and Sam. I got Abby when she was 5 months and maybe she had some bad habits and why she was put up for adoption. I drove all the way to Pocatello to get her and boy was she a naughty puppy. I would walk her before work so she had no excuse for it. Dragging my butt out at 5:30 in the winter. You bet I caged her after her last destructive episode. I had never done that before, but I couldn't keep replacing window frames after she chewed them up.

But having Sam since puppyhood I think I have worked with her enough that she isn't going to go thru the destructive stage. One thing people point out when they meet her is how calm she is. And well behaved except for puppy things. Today she gets her first bath because Pe-U she stinks. There is a ditch in the field for drainage and one spot at the end collects the stagnant smelly stuff till the end and boy did she have fun. "Sam stay up. No don't go in there. Nooo Saaam come!" Boy did she have fun running up and down the ditch splashing water everywhere. Definitely a lab. 1st time she saw the stream in she went and it was January. Brrrr....

If I ever make it back to N Cal I will be looking you up. Care to spend a day at Bodega Bay with us? I'll treat to brunch at the Inn of the Tides if you do.

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@snoopydawg hi, yeah let's keep dreaming. We could hike from here to Humboldt on The Redwood Trail one day too. Have you seen Humboldt Bay? Smoked Humboldt weed? magical stuff

Anyway Ebbs, as I used to call her was the runt of an eleven puppy litter. Eleventy! heh All the ten before her popped out gold or red. Her mom was my dad's last bird dog, he always had setters I think. As long as I can remember.

Ebony's mom was a pure bred Irish Setter, her akc registered name was Something Something of Minerva, my memory is as good as yours. lol She got loose once and got pregnant by what turned out to be a black Labrador mutt, nobody really knows. People happily took all those puppies, they looked like Golden Retrievers and had at least half the hunter genes. Minnie was the dumbest dog on earth, but she was really really beautiful. Gorgeous red coat, nothing at all between the ears. Ebbs was smart, and she was a great leaper much like coyotes hop when they go mousin' in the meadows. Funny.

Peace and Love
Free Hugs

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snoopydawg's picture

@eyo

I spent 2 weeks up in that area during a heat wave. I left the Central Valley to escape it. Big bummer it almost ruined the trip.

I try to get the runt, but this time it was a he so I didn’t. I’ve always had girl dawgs. Boys come with attitude. lol.

Ok it’s a date.

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dystopian's picture

@snoopydawg great pics SD! Beautiful country.

@snoopydawg wrote:

gone home and got my camera

I finally got over it, but for years I slept and showered with one... being a nature boy it is risky to me going outside without it. In nature study you have to document anything unusual, and a lot of times in nature, you get one chance. I have documented hundreds of rare occurrences from birds to bugs in observations that only lasted seconds. Having irrefutable proof is everything in the world of claiming natural history records. So I don't leave home without it. Wink

Thanks for the great pics!

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We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

snoopydawg's picture

@dystopian

I went out for photos and the light was crappy so I left everything in the car. You guessed it. I was more bummed about my lamb skin snoopy fanny pack then all my cameras and stuff. Of course it was a limited edition and I couldn’t find another one. I will start keeping my little pocket one in the car. It’s 10mpx but it loves to eat batteries. One of the last ones with a view finder. I don’t like the ones without because you can’t compose in bright light.

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janis b's picture

All is well, and I hope you're enjoying the start of your weekend.

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snoopydawg's picture

@janis b

It looks magical.

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dystopian's picture

@janis b Those are beautiful images Janis! Awesome. I love that first one. Mostly so dark, and then so bright. Wow! Outstanding contrast and composition. The butterfly is great too. Is that a Monarch? Most excellent spot of light on it, perfect!

Thanks for the great images as always Janis!

I hope the earthquakes haven't rattled you too much... I grew up with them in socal so they are nothing to me, until they get past 6 I barely notice them. But 7 is MAJOR! Glad to see there hasn't been another bigger, hopefully the pressure got taken off.

be well!

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8 users have voted.

We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

janis b's picture

@dystopian

So far, the only earthquake I've felt is a simulated one in a safe, contained booth at MOTAT (Museum of Transport and Technology) in Auckland. I've also only come close to experiencing a Tsunami watching an animation of one. Both were enough for me.

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janis b's picture

@janis b

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Socialprogressive's picture

@janis b
Nice looking flowers. What are they?

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When I offer to wash your back in the shower, all you have to say is yes or no.
Not all this "who are you, and how did you get in here?" nonsense.

janis b's picture

@Socialprogressive

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enhydra lutris's picture

(spotted skunk) in the wild to the best of my recollection. Cool looking critter, but so are the stripies, just as long as you don't push their buttons. Rescued a litter of the striped ones once with the help of my wife.

be well and have a good one

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

dystopian's picture

@enhydra lutris @enhydra lutris I never saw Spotted in CA that I can recall either, but they are there. Spotted are famous for standing on front legs and squirting. Which they can do in any direction as the discharge nozzles have 360 degree precision rotation and accuracy. They stamp first to warn, but I understand they are very hesitant to use it, you really have to threaten them. I was 3' from the one above, it seemed as surprised as I, however clearly I was the more nervous one.

I have seen Hog-nosed (aka Rooter) Skunk in Madera Canyon, Sta. Rita Mtns., in SE Arizona. One with about a half-dozen little babies behind it came into our camp once!

EDIT: P.S. Note the long long claws on the second shot, Spotted climbs trees.

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10 users have voted.

We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

enhydra lutris's picture

post it as a comapanion to Lookout's Desert (or Peninsular) Bighorn, since that's where I snapped it. In particular, the Spanish for Desert Bighorn is Borrego, and my favorite desert is Anza Borrego, which is where I got the coyote pic.

be well and have a good one

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

enhydra lutris's picture

@enhydra lutris

032012coyote1

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

janis b's picture

@enhydra lutris

Coyote Camouflage!

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vtcc73's picture

We had a little of every kind of wildlife that could be seen in middle TN go through our yard and especially along the spring fed creek. The otters and a beaver were the most exotic.

We were shocked the first time we saw deer along the ridge south of us here. We see mostly birds instead of mammals near the house. The dozens of street dogs probably keep everything else away.

The most exotic animal I’ve heard of was by a gringo friend a quarter mile further up the mountain. He had an Andean porcupine in his yard last year. They’re really different and terribly cute. I don’t have a photo but looking it up is worth the time.

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"Ah, but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now..."

janis b's picture

@vtcc73

It looks more like a hedgehog to me than any porcupine I've known.

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mimi's picture

@janis b @janis b
Porcupines are delicious, hedgehogs are sacred and untouchable, and I just wonder how a skunk would taste.

Sigh.

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vtcc73's picture

@janis b and why I didn't just post one. Gerard said it was very docile and was totally unbothered by his two dogs barking and bouncing around it like maniacs. They did seem to have the good sense not to get too close.

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"Ah, but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now..."

dystopian's picture

@vtcc73 @vtcc73 Yeah that is a neat beast, the Andean Porcupine. My what a big nose they have. Those are very short-spined as well. The African one has super long spines. Here in the states ours are longish. Ours here, and I think maybe all of them, are bark eaters. They will kill a tree. Most locals here shoot them for that or because 'their dogs will just get into them' if they don't. Meanwhile they bulldoze trees all year long.

P.S. to Janis: thanks for the pic !

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4 users have voted.

We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

IMG_2571.JPG
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lotlizard's picture

Like most Mainland fauna, species non grata in Hawaii.

https://www.qwant.com/?q=live%20skunk%20hawaii&t=web

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orlbucfan's picture

Rec'd!! Smile

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Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.

TheOtherMaven's picture

He's being erased because he allegedly normalizes and perpetuates rape culture, according to NYT columnist Charles M. Blow[hard].

The odd thing here is that Pepe's over-the-top behavior (and his perpetual frustration) is clearly meant to show that this is NOT how to treat girls/women.

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There is no justice. There can be no peace.