Tennessee Mom’s picture of a skunk reminds me of a dog I used to have. We called him Newton, but I think he would have responded to just any old thing. Newton was a nomad, he showed up at our house one day and 8 months later he just up and left. We saw him a few months later, a few towns over, at someone else’s house. He was a rambler, and nobody could tie him down or keep him home.

He especially liked to roam in the woods, that big shaggy scamp. Now, back then we lived in the middle of nowhere on roads that didn’t have a lot of cars on it. So it was safer, theoretically. Nowadays I would never let my dog roam around, but back then, we didn’t think anything of it.

So, one day he came home smelling like skunk. He came up to the house looking very embarrassed, like he thought he probably should have known better. We bathed him in tomato juice, and he smelled slightly better, but not much. A few weeks later when he was finally smelling like his fabulous doggie self again, he came harrumphing up to the house looking sheepish again. That’s right, he had tangled with another skunk.

So we bathed him again in tomato juice and I told him to stay away from skunks, and as far as I know, he never got sprayed by another. But whoo! He smelled so bad those times.