Henry had a first experience last night. He came running in the dog door, and I was amazed he actually used the dog door and didn’t signal me to come open the door then I noticed. Henry was frantic. He was shaking his head back and forth and had foam covering his mouth. I tried and couldn’t catch him. I grabbed a wet paper towel, and I finally grabbed Henry and cleaned his eyes and mouth. Henry had met his first skunk. I grabbed my Nature’s Miracle skunk odor remover and washed Henry’s face. He didn’t move the whole time. After a couple of rinses, I had a headache and had gagged a couple of times, but old Henry smelled like himself; however my house smelled like skunk. I turned off the AC, opened windows, took something for my headache then went upstairs to bed. Henry hadn’t gotten upstairs in his skunky state so my bedroom was fine for sleeping. This morning I went on the deck and then came back inside to check the smell. The house still has a faint whiff of skunk. Thanks, Henry, for sharing the experience.

When I was a kid, I remember watching my first skunk waddle across the grass. I also remember not getting close enough to trigger the defensive blast of skunk. Back then tomato juice was the suggested go to for skunk stench removal. It doesn’t work, but it does sell a lot of tomato juice. I keep Nature’s Miracle on hand and have since Shauna, my first boxer, got skunked in the face. After a few rinses of the stuff, Shauna smelled just like Shauna and not Pepe Le Pew.

The afternoon is already hot at 85˚, the predicted high. The clouds will stay all day while the sun will be back and forth. Henry and Nala are having their first naps of the day. Henry is in the kitchen while Nala is beside me on the couch. The poor dogs are exhausted from playing up and down the hall, from chasing each other. I need a nap.

This morning I had toast and coffee. I shared both. Most times coffee is enough, but I was hungry and too lazy to cook eggs so toast was perfect. I do like eggs in almost every form. If cooking for myself, I usually fry or scramble the eggs.

In Ghana, most things were fried in peanut, aka groundnut oil, readily available in the market, and that included my morning eggs. They were delicious and nicely browned around the edges. In the hotels, you always get breakfast as part of the room rate. Each hotel offered a variation of breakfast, but all of them included coffee, fried eggs and toast. Sometimes there was porridge or fruit, mostly bananas and oranges. In my two years living there and on all three visits, I had the same breakfast every morning and liked it. I even got used to that awful coffee, instant with condensed milk. I kept telling myself it is coffee after all.

Today is already hot at 80˚, the high for the day. The breeze is ever so slight and only once in a while. I can feel the house getting warmer. This room, my den, is in the back of the house and is the last room the sun hits, but usually, by then, I’ve already cranked the AC.

The den is still dark. The TV is playing in the background. I don’t pay any attention. I just like the sounds of voices. Sometimes I go with foreign language films. I never read the subtitles.

I have no plans for today. Earlier, I did notice a few hair piles along the baseboards so I’ll walk around carrying my little portable vac, instant gratification with only the turn of a switch. The kitchen floor is back to being dog paw prints. “It’s déjà vu all over again,” (maybe Yogi, maybe not). I just washed it a couple of days ago, but I’ll do it again today when everything dries from all the rain we had and after I’ve overcome my innate wish to do nothing.

I like roller coasters. They make me yell from excitement, not fear. I barely breathe when the cars slowly click up that first big hill because I know what’s coming on the other side. I would never ride a roller coaster in the dark. I’d be lost, disoriented, after that first hill. The yells would be surprise but mostly fear.

When I was a kid, I was never afraid of much. Bugs didn’t bother me, and I knew spiders did good work. Snakes were interesting, and I learned to pick them up at the back of their heads or what passes for a head, behind their eyes. I loved watching the darting dragonflies and the grasshoppers jumping in front of me when I walked.

It was my father’s stories which put me on night alert for any sounds. I’d lean my ear toward the sound and give it all my attention. Mostly I’d recognize the sounds of bugs and night birds, but once in a while I’d hear underbrush and know something bigger, maybe a raccoon, was wandering near my yard. Footsteps scared me, especially when no one was talking, just walking. I’d always look from the window but sort of hide behind the side curtain. Many movies later, I’d realize it was never safe behind a curtain.