I have an air purifier nearish my door. I bought it a few years back to try and get dog hair/dander. And it does a good job. It barked at me that it needed a new filter, and I assumed it was like a printer and merely wanting me to spend more money on something I didn’t need. And I pulled out the filter, and it had about a pound of hair/dust/gunk on it. I’m amazed it didn’t scream for help.
I came in today and saw the purifier was on code orange, which meant it detected pollutants. Kind of like when I cook food and inevitably burn it. But I smelled what it was: a skunk. There are a small handful of skunks around here. They don’t have the stink power of rural skunks. Nowhere close. You could smell those things for miles. The skunks around here have about a 1-2 block stench. Which might be an adaptation to keep the humans from ruthlessly murderizing them.
There was a documentary that said the only wild mammals that thrive with human expansion are raccoons. It’s a cool factoid, but I’m still not sure about rats/mice. Those guys might like cities as well. But clearly trash bandits have prospered with humans. Skunks, despite their awesome power, are a bit too awesome for their own good.
In other news, I just heard a guy in my apartment building got Covid. He’s maybe 19-22 years old and in great physical condition. I’m sure he’ll be able to mostly deal with the effects, but he’s bedridden and inactive. I’ve randomly bumped into bunches of other people who are 1 degree separated from Covid. I know the fatigue is setting in and the economy is rough. My writing has taken a hit for sure. But hang in there everyone.
