Saturday morning

                                   Skunk Tails 

One evening last week I stepped outside the basement door to find myself face to face with a skunk. I wasn’t surprised; we had been smelling him around the house for a couple of days. The skunk didn’t seem surprised either. He eyed me with indifference, secure in the knowledge that if I didn’t already know about skunk defenses, he could teach me all I needed to know in about three seconds. Not willing to risk having my intentions misunderstood, I retreated inside, and the skunk went on about his business.

Our first encounter with skunks came many years ago shortly after we moved here. On a warm evening in early summer we came home to find a mother skunk occupying the small deck outside our kitchen door. Three baby skunks were busy chasing each other up and down the steps while mom raided the bird feeder. At that time, we came and went through the kitchen door, and a quick search revealed that neither of us had a key to the other door. We would have to get past the skunks.

Skunks are usually quite reluctant to release their foul spray, but with young to protect, I worried that this mom might be trigger happy so I kept my distance. It would be dark soon though and something needed to be done. I grabbed the garden hose. Perhaps I could out-squirt the squirter. Sure enough the mother skunk seemed quite unnerved by the stream of water coming in her direction, and made for the safety of the bushes nearby. The kits however, were delighted by this turn of events, and ran around in the water like children playing in a fire hydrant.

The mother skunk fussed and stamped her feet and when I turned the hose off  the kits reluctantly rejoined mom. She inspected them, lined them up and led them away into the dusk, tails arched over their backs. We never saw them again.

Skunks pretty much come and go as they please. Their only natural predator is the Great Horned Owl, who apparently has little or no sense of smell. We don't have a Great Horned Owl though, so we had to develop our own tricks to keep skunks away from the house. Last week we hung a trouble lights near where the skunk was nesting and scattered moth balls around under the deck. The skunk, and the smell, are now gone.

Apparently skunks don’t like the smell of moth balls. Ironic that.

A winter morning walk #5

Mute Swan in flight - Green County, Virginia

Near the end of our winter morning walk we find ourselves standing on the earthwork dam that forms the lake, listening to to the sound of a mute swan approaching. Swans are strong flyers and their wings make a strange creaking, almost eerie sound that can be heard at quite a distance. (Click here to hear the wing sounds on a short video.)  The swan flies directly overhead and out over the lake, where he circles and makes another pass before disappearing into the fog.

Hope you have enjoyed our walk this week. Have a great weekend and thanks for reading Photography In Place.

The swan circles overhead before flying off to the other end of the lake.

A winter morning walk #4

Greene County, Virginia

A winter morning walk #3

Greene County, Virginia 

Let's stop here for a moment. If I were a plein air painter, which I am not, I would carry a paintbox and a small easel instead of a camera. Alongside the path, I would clamp a small panel in my easel and, facing the line of trees on the edge of that field, paint a quick study—weeds and trees—with a palette of sienna, umber, green and purple.

If I were a painter, my brush could create sycamore trees where they are needed for light and contrast, but as a photographer, I am pleased that nature provided these sycamores, for without them, there would be no picture.

A winter morning walk #2

Greene County, Virginia 

The woods are a little ragged along here. The undergrowth is heavy and downed trees lay scattered on the forest floor. A few gnawed and pointed stumps suggest the haphazard logging of beavers, but there is no sign of them now.

Sweater and jacket feel good in the damp morning air. The dampness in the woods brings out faded browns and timid oranges and pale greens, winter colors that give off a faint but lovely glow in the heavy air, suggesting a warmth that is still months away.

A winter morning walk #1

Greene County, Virginia 

Let's go for a walk. The morning is foggy and not too cold. The air is still and except for our footsteps on the path all is quiet. Even the geese out on the lake are silent for now, but they are a quarrelsome bunch and unlikely to be quiet for long. When the fog starts to lift, they will  fly off together to spend the morning picking over a nearby farm field. It happens like this: one goose suggests it is time to go with a raspy two note call—hronk-a. Another goose agrees—hronk-a...hronk-a. Soon they all join in and, in a loud, excited hronk-a cacophony, rise from the water in unison. Geese love to fly. The noise is deafening; you can't even hear yourself think.

But it is not a morning for thinking; it is a morning for seeing and listening. The geese are gone now and it is silent once again. Let's see how the woods look on a foggy, winter morning.

Maplewood Cemetery #5

Gordonsville, Virginia