Am I the only person here who likes the smell of skunks?

[LynneSin]

Don't get me wrong, I don't want to get too close to one or be sprayed. But living in the city, well it's been ages since I've smelled a skunk. When I grew up in rural PA I would smell them all the time. And since we only had one small AC unit in the house, if I wanted a cool breeze in my bedroom I had to open the windows at night which meant I smelled plenty of skunks in my lifetime.

I was hiking at Susquehanna State Park yesterday and smelled a skunk (didn't see it). I just took a nice break by the stream and well appreciated the moment.

[RevStPatrick]

1. No.

You're not!

[MiddleFingerMom]

2. I actually really like the smell. It reminds me of... oh... something.

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Even before that, I liked the smell...if at a distance.
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[Arkansas Granny]

3. If the smell is not too intense, I don't really find it to be objectionable. A little skunk odor

goes a long way.

[bluedigger]

4. A little whiff is okay.

I wouldn't want to carry it around with me.

[Denninmi]

5. Sorry, not me.

If it's strong, it actually makes me nauseous.

[Flaxbee]

6. I like the smell of skunk, too -- wouldn't like to take a direct hit, by any means

but the odor on the air - even up to strong - is something I like. I rarely smelled it in California, living in the LA 'burbs, but since I've been in rural northern Virginia I've grown to like it. Can't claim nostalgia, but just maybe an offbeat appreciation.

[sinkingfeeling]

7. I don't care for the odor, so I'll send you the next dead skunk I see.

[Arugula Latte]

8. ...

[pipi_k]

9. Holy cow

I thought I was the only one in the whole world who liked skunk smell.

Only if it's not strong, though.

I also like the smell of old dirt cellars, vinyl beach balls, books, cow manure, freshly cut wood, oil paints, and, weirdest of all...

when I was of child-bearing age, the smell of menstrual blood was not particularly offensive to me. My own, I mean.

[pipi_k]

10. PS...this thread deserves

a musical tribute...

[petronius]

11. Add me to the +1 list - as long as it's a moderate waft

I've never actually gotten a direct dose of the scent, fortunately...

[Hassin Bin Sober]

12. It reminds me of my college roommates' special closet with the grow-lights and tinfoil on the walls

[HopeHoops]

13. It's called "musk" - get a ferret - they smell just like skunk.

[Kali]

14. light off in the distance smells fine

especially if you ever appreciated good bud, but intense and up close - hell you don't even smell it - your mouth gets this oily coating sensation and it is quite sickening.

even a medium distance can be a bit much - it can wake you up or keep you awake. but a quick pass off in the distance? it can be pleasant

[Tuesday Afternoon]

17. yeah, there is a reason that bud is called skunk

I like a drift of musky odor wfting by from time to time my own self

[linux80386]

15. uhhh.. yeah?

ewwww.

[nolabear]

16. Yes, that waft of burnt rubber. I miss it here where we have none.

[HeiressofBickworth]

18. Into the WayBack machine to tell you another tale of my misspent youth

When I took driver's ed in school, it was the first period of the day and it was the teacher's first driver's ed class. I was the first driver that morning. The cars used for the class were on loan from a local dealer -- very kind of them, I think. So, two other drivers and Mr. Romeo (yup, his real name) got into the car and off we went. On one of the back streets I hit a skunk. Pewwwwwwwwwwww. Mr. Romeo suggested we cut the class short and return to the school. On the way back, he started rummaging around in the glove box -- he said he was sure the car came with a bottle of scotch. This was not an auspicious beginning of his teaching career.

[Iggo]

19. Smells like a fat sack of kush.

[csziggy]

20. Skunk odor brings back fond memories of my early childhood

When our house was moved into town from the mining village, Mom had collected a bunch of old bricks that had been the chimney. She planned to make them into a 'rock' garden but never got around to it. A family of spotted skunks moved into the pile of bricks - though people in that part of Florida called them civet cats.

I'd go out to play in the back yard and thought the civet cats were kitty cats. It was logical - our cat was black and white and about the same size. Mom would come out to get me and there I would be with a half dozen spotted skunks surrounding me, letting me pet them and sitting in my lap. Mom was afraid to come to me or ever call me, worried she'd frighten the skunks and I'd end up smelling like them.

I never got sprayed, in fact I didn't know what one smelled like until one day years later when I came home from school and the end of the house stunk to high heaven. One of the spotted skunks had fallen in the almost empty garbage can, looking for food. Mom found it when she took some trash out, but that is not when it sprayed.

Mom thought maybe she could get the skunk descented so I could have it as a pet and had called around to the few vets in town but they all turned her down and recommend letting it loose. When Dad came home, Mom asked him to do the honors so he took a long pole and tipped the garbage can over. THAT's when the skunk let loose then ran for the bushes.

I was disappointed that I didn't even get to see the skunk but relieved to know that some still lived in the neighborhood.

One of my big disappointments here at the farm is that I've never seen or smelled a skunk here. We could have them but since they are nocturnal never saw them, but you'd think we'd have seen evidence sometime in the last 30+ years.

[Kaleva]

21. I like the smell of freshly cut and baled hay.

But I don't miss one bit those hours upon hours spent in the hayloft stacking hay bales in hellish temperatures.

[markpkessinger]

24. Or hours spent on a wagon trailing behind a hay bailer . . .

. . . in blazing hot sun with bees swarming all over the place, and 75 lb. bails coming off the bailer at about one every couple of seconds (faster if my uncle drove the tractor faster) that had to be neatly stacked on the wagon. Ah, I remember it well . . .

[Kaleva]

25. I had to pick the bales off the field and toss them to another brother on the trailer

My youngest brother would be driving the tractor. When we got a load, I drove the tractor back to the barn and in the beginning, I unloaded the trailer as the rest of my brothers were up in the loft stacking. When it got to hot and hard for them as the haybarn was filling up, I went up there to stack as they fed the hay elevator from the trailer.

It sucked being the oldest and strongest. LOL!

[markpkessinger]

28. My aunt and uncle had a farm . . .

. . . Each summer, my brother and I would each get to spend a full week with my aunt and uncle and cousins (which we always looked forward to with great anticipation). It was only when we got older that we realized that our respective one-week "vacations" were always conveniently timed to coincide with hay bailing season!

[Kali]

27. just finished that chore last week

er, rather the offspring did

[Kaleva]

30. That's what offspring are for!

For years I had asked my Dad about getting a wood splitter but he refused. When his wood splitter graduated from school and left to join the Navy (me), he finally got one.

Edit: As more of my brothers left home, he automated things more and more. Put in a barn cleaner, got a kicker baler, put in a pipe line milking system and such.

When I cam home on leave, I'd be amazed at how much easier the chores where. My youngest brothers still at home still bitched though even though they didn't know how easy they had it compared to me.

[markpkessinger]

22. I grew up in rural PA, too . . .

. . . in Beech Creek, Clinton County, to be precise. Some years back I took a friend of mine, who grew up on Long Island, along for a visit with some family who still live there. As we were driving around one evening, we were hit with that overpowering smell of a skunk that had been killed on the highway. My friend exclaimed, "Oh, my God! What is that smell?" I was fairly astounded that he had made it to the ripe old age of 30 without ever having encountered the smell of a skunk before!

[Kaleva]

23. You should have told him you had gas.

[Lisa0825]

26. A whif from a distance is OK.

I have a skunk who visits my porch regularly to see if there is any kibble left from what I put out for the street cats. It is sooooo cute! Scared the crap out of me the first time I ran into her late at night! She ran ran in one direction, and I ran in the other!!! But when I smell "that smell" every now and then, I think it's my little striped neighbor coming to visit. So I understand how associating the smell with a nice thought or memory makes it a good thing.

I also found a litter of skunk kits in our neighborhood garbage dumpster when I was a kid. We had a big greenbelt behind our street. The neighbors who used the dumpster all agreed to give the family time to get weaned and move on, rather than disturbing them. Couldn't be cuter!!! One of them was mostly white with black stripes and the others were black with white. I ran home sooooo excited to tell mom about the black and white squirrel babies I found! LOL

[UTUSN]

29. Apparantly. n/t

[nuxvomica]

31. I like that smell even though I'm very sensitive to other smells

I despise the smell of raw onions and, worse, cilantro.

[YankeyMCC]

32. When I smell the first skunk of the year

it always brings a smile because it means spring is getting established

[kimi]

33. My ex loved the smell!

He'd roll the window down in the car when he caught a whiff - the kids & I sort of cringed.

Funny skunk story - don't know if I've shared this here before. We have a family farm down in Southern Iowa, raise registered Angus & a few alpacas (we had a baby alpaca the other day! - it is soooo cute!) But anyway, the dog who guards the alpacas is a Great Pyrenees named Kate. A couple of winters ago we found out that Kate had been sharing the farm garage with a skunk - feeding, watering & sleeping together for months. She's an older dog, probably knew the consequences of annoying a skunk & decided to pick her battles.

She still takes on the coyotes every night, though!