get_knitted | Check-In Post

Hello to all members, passers-by, curious onlookers, and shy lurkers, and welcome to our regular daily check-in post. Just leave a comment below to let us know how your current projects are progressing, or even if they're not.

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I now declare this Check-In OPEN!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I do rather like skunks. Not native to Britain, but they're cute to look at. As long as they don't get alarmed and go on the defensive. I am lucky enough never to have smelled skunk.

>> I do rather like skunks. Not native to Britain, but they're cute to look at. As long as they don't get alarmed and go on the defensive.<<

Skunks prefer not to use their main gun. It is biologically expensive to reload, they have very limited ammunition, and they're not fond of the smell either. Hence why they have a warning routine to discourage predators. So if you see a skunk, you can just stand there, or make a bit of noise, and the skunk will typically scurry away. I usually just say, "Excuse me, this is human territory."

To fire, they must aim their anal glands at a target and lift their tail. A skunk can't hit you if it's facing you; although it can release a cloud, it usually won't.

>> I am lucky enough never to have smelled skunk. <<

It's a lot like rotten egg, but more persistent.

Thanks for the skunk tips. I'll likely never need them, then again, I never know what will show up in my garden. I wouldn't put it past the universe to somehow gift me with a random skunk.

It's fun to share knowledge.

Also, skunks are scavengers. They like to get into small places looking for things. People ship cargo, produce, even garbage. It's not unfeasible for a skunk to hitch a ride.

On the other hoof, some people keep fancy skunks as pets. You never know what might get loose.

Oh yes, I know all about things getting loose from the ferret I caught in my garden, and the lovebird... Ferrets are sweet, if pungent. Lovebirds are vicious little monsters. I've handled birds most of my life and never met anything more savage!

Ferrets are little stinkers. I have a ferret Tarot deck. The Tower is a huge bag of ferret chow falling over toward a fleeing ferret.

Lovebirds are beautiful but do have a reputation for biting.

The lovebird was outside on the washing line, I had no choice but to grab it, and it grabbed me in return, sinking its beak right through the skin between my thumb and forefinger. I was shouting to my mum to find a cage I could put the bird in while it kept biting harder and harder... It was eventually reunited with its owner, having escaped during a storm and travelled more than 15 miles.

The ferret was far nicer. I called to it, it trotted over to me, and I picked it up. Of course, then I had a ferret dangling from one hand and nowhere to put it. Mum had to dig out the pet carrier for temporary housing while I cleared out the hutch below my rabbit, who was not pleased with his neighbour. The owner didn't even respond to the notices I put up for three days, by which time I'd already handed the ferret over to the RSPCA. It was a female in heat, wouldn't eat or drink, so it needed to be with someone who knew more than I did.

For future reference, it's often possible to catch a bird by tossing a sheet over it. That's what I've used when there's a bird loose indoors somehow. You have a wide catch area and no need to make direct contact.

It depends on the type of bird, and also whether there is time to get something else to catch it with, which there wasn't. I needed to grab it before it flew away, and there was very little space to work in. I've been catching birds in various ways for 50 years, wild ones that have got into people's houses, my own budgies and cockatiels to clip their claws and beaks, my zebra finches when I used to breed and show them, injured birds for treatment. If I'd had the time I would have slipped a glove on, that's all that's needed for protection, but it was there, and all I could do was grab and hope for the best. The ideal way to hold a small bird is with its head between the first and second fingers, it limits movement, but I couldn't do that because of the angle I had to grab it from.

Check-In Post - May 11th 2025

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