Nature's Un-Disney Side...
Lots of people, particularly those who live in cities, have a romantic, "Disney-esque" view of life in the Country...
Well, as I was wrapping things up here, and about to go to bed, I was given another reminder about how it ain't all a bed of roses out here. No, that aroma definitely isn't roses...
It's Skunk....
Don't know where the stinky little bugger is, but it's out there somewhere, wafting its parfume around the farm. Makes me wonder if that's just the way it always smells, or if something like one of the barn-cats or a fox startled it. I think they always smell that way, as I was able to scent Momma Skunk and her litter of five babies from a distance two Summers ago. (Fortunately that scent gave me warning about their presence so that I didn't blindly bumble into them and get sprayed!)
As for foxes... Everyone thinks they're so cute and fluffy, and make cute little yiffing and yipping sounds. They don't....
They may make those sounds some times, but they also make a blood-curdling screeching sound that sounds like a woman screaming and then being suddenly silenced! The first time I heard it, I thought someone was being murdered! Our local fox usually likes to make these horrible sounds in the middle of the night, which is a Helluva way to be roused out of a nice dream! A fox coming off a hard Winter isn't cute or fluffy either - it looks thin, mangy, and bedraggled... I've seen them in the Summer when they're fat (even a fat fox still looks sleek!) and full of gophers, but the Winters are tough on them.
Frankly, I like the musical offerings of the local coyote-packs better... At least they know how to sing! :)