RECORD STORE TALES #1192:  Close Encounter of the Stinky Kind!

It has been the Spring of Unseasonal Cold!  Unable to catch a break this year, Jen and I have spent most of our cottage time indoors with the heat cranked.  What a change from years past.  The water levels are low, and we have not seen much wildlife.  Well, except for a recent close encounter.

We left for the lake on Thursday night, to the soundtrack of Frehley’s Comet.  Friday was a day off, and it was spent cooking exotic meat on the barbecue (more on that in a bit).  It was also spent flying my new drone.  A step up from the Potensic, I now have in my arsenal a Ruko U11MINI 4k.  Unfortunately, due to the wind and cold, I only had one flight with it.  You can see from the video footage that the camera is far superior.  The images and videos are clearer, and level with the horizon.  I will be posting a full review soon, and more videos, as I work with the drone and gain more experience.

We ran out propane on Friday night, just after my lamb chops were cooked to a perfect medium rare.  The last gasps of flame puffed to an end as the lamb was finished.  Of course, with two big beautiful steaks on deck for Saturday night, we had to get more propane.  Friday was the day for exotic meat – scallops, moose sausage, and lamb chops.  Each one of them turned out perfect.  My scallops had an abundance of butter to soak up, seasoned with garlic oil and chunks.  The moose sausage was strong but not game-y, and the lamb of course was the highlight.  I did those with butter, garlic, oregano and fresh parsley.  But Saturday was steak day, the “big” day.  We had a porterhouse and a ribeye to grill!  Propane would be purchased on Saturday morning.

I woke Jen up around 7:00 AM.  Nobody likes hitting the Kincardine McGas bar during the breakfast rush, so we aimed to be there before that.  I started warming up the family truckster, Jen got in, and I noticed that I left a Tim’s coffee cup in the car.  I grabbed it and quickly ran over to my fireplace to toss it out.  It was a cool but beautiful morning, still dim as we waited for the sun to penetrate the clouds.

Just as I approached the fireplace from behind, preparing my aim to launch my cup, I saw movement!

Black and white movement!

I skidded to a halt and aborted the launch of my coffee cup.  It landed meters away from the target — which was a blessed thing!  Inside the fireplace, nosing around looking for scraps, was a large black and white skunk.  I shrieked like a baby and ran.  “There’s a skunk in there!!” I shouted to Jen who had no idea why I was running.

I was literally a second away from being sprayed.  If I had not halted when I did, that coffee cup would have launched right into the fireplace, hitting and startling the skunk, and thus ruining my weekend and probably the week after.

Close call!  They say close only counts in horseshoes?  It also counts when barely missing a skunk at 7:00 AM!