We can go days without speaking to anyone but neighbor Marla, out walking Albert. Today was quite the opposite. I was well past the bend in the road when feisty Raven started yapping after me. The dog figured I was off her property and gave in to a shout from the house. A few minutes later her owner stopped her car and apologized. At least it gave us a chance for a quick exchange of pleasant greetings.
A few steps more, and I was looking at a dead raccoon on the road. I suspect it was a young one, but ‘coons in the wild don’t get as huge as those on garbage welfare on Long Island. I started to count the rings on the tail, but then corrected myself. You count rings on a tree to determine its age. Doesn’t work for ‘coons.
Next up, or rather down, was a skunk on the road, dead as could be. It might be the only animal that has more of a stench when freshly dead than when decomposing. I warned Marla with a text message, but there was a dead zone (appropriate!) in front of her house. The message went through when I was half way down the long hill.
John and I thought Smoky was dead, because he hadn’t come out to greet us for months. I had the pleasure of petting him two days in a row and still had my phone out to get his picture.
Smoky laid on my feet for a belly rub, and that’s when another neighbor drove by in a white van. She rolled down her window and asked, “Is the dog OK? Just saw two animals dead in the road back there and hoped this wasn’t a third.”
I spent long minutes at the creek, watching leaves tumble through the rapids. It’s mesmerizing. When I walked through the gas station, the lumber trucker I talked to recently was refueling. He walked away from the noise of the truck to chat with me. He’s older than I thought. He has six grandchildren, one from his daughter and five from his son. He explained that his son was in the navy, and every time he came back in port, his wife had another baby. A man in a van pulled up and asked if he’d had a wreck.
Trucker replied, “Yeah, I did! 40 years driving without an accident. Had two on the same day last week!”
When it was raining heavily, a woman in a car skidded into him. After that was sorted out, he drove on and saw a man brake sharply and hit the guard rail. He said, “I threw on my brakes, and I slid into the guard rail, too.”
Neighbor Dawn was driving to her volunteer job at a thrift store, and she stopped to comment on the dead animals. She continued, “John away with trains? I’ve seen you walking alone.”
I started up the steep hill, pausing only to wave at Ironman. I call him that because he works with wrought iron. He has been cleaning up outside his building, splitting logs and piling them up.
As I went back past Marla’s house, I took a shot of the trap Dave had put out to catch the skunk. The marshmallow bait was still there. Dave and neighbor Mark across the street hoped to catch the skunk that had been lurking about their properties. They would have given it a free move to the woods. Getting caught would have been better for you, Skunk.
Mehrling Muse 
I sure hope no cruel person put poisoned food outside! :-(((
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No, definitely not. Both animals were bleeding from head wounds and were lying in the middle of the road.
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Gee poor things!! Bad luck for them!
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barring the poor dead animals-how lovely to walk about and chat with friendly folks-I like to think of doing so, while leaves were falling.
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Your neighbourhood sounds so lovely, except for those poor animals.
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The coon and skunk had such public deaths. It’s too bad they couldn’t die with dignity deep in the woods.
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For sure! What an awful ending!
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I read this one to my husband Anne as he is always intensely interested in animals….dead and alive! His first question was to wonder where you lived….I am not sure if he wanted to pick them up or what. (He never said).He was probably curious if the skunk was a spotted skunk.
I probably should not have chuckled when reading this, but the way you wrote it Anne just hit me funny. “Getting caught would have been better for you, Skunk.” It sure would have been!
At least it was a very interesting walk.
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I didn’t know there were different kinds of skunks. I must remember to Google them.
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The dead animals were gone 24 hours later. I asked Marla if her dad had disposed of them, and she said no. Don’t know who did it.
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I always feel like crying when I see a dead creature on the road. But sometimes it takes tragedy, even small critter loss, to bring people together. A story well told Anne. Thank you for sharing.
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Thank you for reading!
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Anne
Sad story of the skunk and the raccoon. Were they hit by vehicles ? or Shot ?
Susie
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They must have been hit by a car. The dead animals were not far from homes, and it’s not likely anyone would shoot a gun at those places.
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What an interesting walk that ran the gambit with a myriad of interesting encounters (how was that for a mouthful?)! The poor dead animals, though–not sure how you managed to pass the skunk, that is a horrid smell, but I would rather pass a dead one than a live one with the possibility of taking the stench home. What an interesting walk. Thanks for taking me along! Dawn
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Like you, I’m glad the skunk was not threatening to spray us. The smell wasn’t too bad as we walked by. Thanks for walking with me.
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I love seeing wildlife, I’ll skip the dead ones though!
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We were rather glad not to meet the wild animals when they were alive!
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