Last night’s activities were ugly. Nala, of course, was at the heart of them. It was late, around 12:30. The dogs were out for a jaunt. Suddenly, I could smell skunk, and the odor was close enough that my eyes burned. Fearing the worst, I called the dogs. Henry came back inside. Nala didn’t. Right away I was suspicious. I yelled and offered a treat. Usually the word treat has her running at breakneck speed into the house, but no Nala. I went outside to check. She was playing with something white. I could smell skunk even worse. I came inside and hunted down my Nature’s Miracle Skunk Smell Remover. Nala came in, and I checked her, the old sniff method. I wasn’t sure if I was smelling the dog or the house, but I doused her in Nature’s Miracle anyway. She ran out the door before I could grab her. When she came back inside, I doused her again. This morning I checked the yard before I let out the dogs. I saw nothing skunk-like. The dogs went out. Nala appeared a bit later through the dog door with fur in her mouth, white fur with black tips. It smelled of skunk. I shooed her outside. She came back in without the fur. I doused her again. She is now napping. There is a faint odor of skunk coming from outside so I shut the windows and turned on the AC. Later I will dispose of the fur. I do wonder where the rest of the skunk is.

I am hunkered down in the house and am cool and comfortable. The larder is filled. I shopped a bit yesterday for the cat and me. I bought groceries and a Snickers. The Snickers is gone.

When I was a kid, I loved penny candy. Granted the price was right, but even better was the variety. I had favorites. The fireball was among them. It was a challenge to eat the whole ball without taking it out of your mouth when it got really hot. Root beer barrels tasted great and lasted a while if you didn’t crunch. Mary Jane’s were chewy. They tasted of peanut butter and molasses. Bonomo Turkish Taffy came in several flavors. Chocolate and banana were my favorites. We used to buy candy cigarettes and pretend to smoke them. I liked spearmint and orange jelly candies. That they were coated in sugar was a plus. You could buy straws with flavored powder inside, wax bottles with colored liquid, Banana Splits, a yellow hard candy, colored buttons on paper and not eating the paper was key and Squirrel Nut Zippers, another favorite of mine. I remember jars and jars filled with penny candy. There were so many more choices it took a while to spend a penny let alone the wealth of a nickel.