OMG. My dog is such a character! I took her out for a walk this afternoon and was just out the door of our room and rounding the corner of the building when she lunged. Before I knew it, she had a skunk in her mouth! Oh shit! It all happened so fast, that before I knew what was going on, Stormy was standing there with this skunk in her mouth. I think it surprised her as much as it did me because once she had it, she just stood there looking like she didn't know what to do next. Of course, I was just astounded and wondering what I was going to do next. The skunk let loose with it's stink, but because it was already in Stormy's mouth, it missed it's mark. Doug was gone, so I yelled for Jay. He came out of his room in his shorts, apparently interrupted from a nap. He took a look at Stormy and said, "Oh, I don't even have an idea what to do!" Stormy was just standing there and didn't respond to the command of "drop it!" I finally came up behind her and poked my finger in between her jaws to release the skunk. When she finally dropped it, the skunk looked a bit disoriented, but walked off. Jay got out his broom to encourage it to vacate his property. I went under the fence, but soon returned. Jay then took the broom and flipped him over the fence. At that point, he began waddling off across the next property. Stormy was still pulling at the leash, wondering where her new find went. Even hours later, when we went for another walk, she was still looking for that skunk!

There is a skunk that is found in northern Peru. It is a nocturnal animal, rarely seen during the day. It is supposed to be about 12 to 16 inches in length with a white tail. This little guy was not nearly that big; maybe 8 inches in length with an additional 5 or 6 inches of tail. I'm thinking it was a baby who had lost track of it's mother and disoriented.

I have been feeling very much like a slug lately. I have been so sedintary and have lacked energy for much of anything. We get up in the morning, do the food run for the workers, come back, nap, read, play on the computer. So I decided that I would make one goal for each day; just one, but an active one. I know this sounds silly, but it is so easy to lay back and do nothing here. Yesterday I walked up to Danielle and Jim's place, maybe a kilometer distance away. Today I wanted to walk to El Refugio from Jay's, but never made the trip. Instead I went up to Danielle and Jim's place again. The other day it was to go swimming in the ocean. I am trying to do something active each day.


I also would like to accomplish something during the day. Yesterday, I made some rice bags. These are cloth bags, filled with rice. During the hot weather, you put them in the freezer to cool. You can take them out and drape them across your neck, or across the backs of your knees to cool off. I took one to bed last night and laid it out under my chest. On the flip side, you can put them in the microwave during the cold weather and heat them up. I used to put them under the sheets at my feet when it was cold. Somehow I don't think I will have to worry about heating them up!