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Unbelievable images of the heavens  

“The universe is an amazing place. The problem is that we can’t go out and explore it. Even getting to Mars and back would take several years. And that’s without stopping to sightsee!

That’s why we have telescopes. Everyone knows about Hubble and Mount Palomar. But you may not have encountered the Chandra X-Ray Observatory.

Chandra is a 10-year-old satellite designed to study X-ray emissions. Aside from furthering scientific research, it takes great pictures. Even better, they are all posted for free online.

The Chandra site has a number of ways to find pictures. You can sort by year or category. There is also a Sky Map and a 3D Wall.

Information is provided about each pictured stellar object. And most of the images can be downloaded. You can also visit the Education section. It has detailed information on the Chandra program and X-ray astronomy.”

Link:  http://chandra.harvard.edu

One morning Andy came into the house and announced, “I think we have a skunk living under our deck.  I can smell him.”  Oh that’s just great, I thought.

That evening, Andy prepared his usual bowl of ice cream and went out to the back fence to watch to see if a skunk came out.  About 8:30 PM, sure enough, out came a skunk, but not just one, but six!

That does it, he thought.  They are dead.

He watched as the skunks went around the end of the house and across the street. Our neighbors to the south watched, and the neighbors to the east watched, all laughing as the traffic stopped to let the skunks cross the road.

The next day, Andy called Animal Control, the Humane Society, and the County.  No one got rid of skunks, but they did offer to rent a trap for a $45 deposit plus $5 a week.

Forget that!  One lady advised that after he trapped them, to take them ten miles from our home and turn them loose.  Andy asked where she was located and as she started to give her address, she stopped and asked, “Why do you want to know that?”

Well, she was ten miles from us.  She didn’t think that was funny.

So off to the store Andy went.  He decided to buy some rat poison.  After looking at the boxes, he wasn’t so sure it would do the job. And he surely didn’t want skunks dying under our porch. 

Andy came home and called our vet.  He said to put moth balls under the porch and that would drive them out.

Back to the store Andy went.

It was now a Thursday evening.  Andy got 3 boxes of moth balls and proceeded to dump them under the deck.  I soon had to close my windows on the west side of the house.  The mixture of skunk and moth balls was more than I could take.

Friday morning we left for a family reunion fully confident that by the time we got home on Sunday the skunks would be gone.  WRONG!

When we arrived home we still had skunks.  “That’s it!” Andy declared, “Tomorrow they die.”

Early the next morning, Andy goes into town and gets an exhaust hose.  He came home, covered the deck with plastic and sealed it up the best he could.

He hooked the exhaust hose to his truck and stuck the other end under the deck.  Next, he got a shovel and went out by the wood pile and started digging a skunk grave.

For two hours the skunks were gassed.  Andy wanted to make sure they were dead.

It was soon time to go in after the skunks. 

The first plank of wood came off the deck.  No skunks were there.  Then off came the facer plank of the deck and there Andy could see one in the far corner.

“There they are,” he declared.

“Are they dead?” I asked.

“Yep, they’re dead.  They’re just laying there with their feet up in the air.”

Break time came for lunch so Andy came in to eat.  After lunch he went back out to finish the job.  And there staring back at him from where he took out the first deck plank were the two eyes of a skunk!

“They’re alive!” he yelled.

He grabbed the water hose, turned on the water and started spraying that skunk!  The skunk ran out the end of the deck and started across the yard towards the neighbors.

He turned and challenged Andy, stomping his little feet at him.

Andy picked up a piece of railroad tie and threw it at him.  He hit him good.  The skunk just rolled over with his feet up in the air. 

That one is dead he thought as he watched him to make sure he didn’t get up.  Off he went to get the shovel to bury the first one.

When he came back, the skunk was gone.  He only stunned it.

That was enough for one morning’s adventure.  That evening when it was time for the skunks to come out, our neighbor and I watched from a distance as Andy shinned a flashlight under the deck.

Out came 4 skunks.  We knew there were more, but they didn’t come out.

Off came another plank of wood as Andy searched for their hole.  He still couldn’t find it, so he took the water hose and squirted up under the deck.  Out came one and as Andy was chasing him with the water hose, he turned and found another one at his feet!

Andy squirted him with the hose, and the skunk turned around and shot back!

Another skunk came out and headed toward me.  I took off and left poor Andy alone to fend for himself.

Andy pulled up the next plank and put the water hose down the hole and began to fill it.  Out came another skunk and took off.  We decided the skunks were now all out.

Andy poured a bowl full of moth balls into the hole and washed them down.

You can imagine how things were smelling by now.  The house stunk, the porch stunk and Andy stunk!   Score:  Skunks 2, Andy: zip!

The next morning Andy ran more water down the hole and no skunks came out.  He repeated this again the next morning and no skunks came out. 

At last we were free of skunks and moths too, I might add.  Andy won the battle but didn’t score any points.

The deck is all back together and sealed so that critters can’t get in again without digging.  At least we can tell when uninvited guest decide to move in.

Our neighbor was over the other day.  She said she smelled skunks in her back yard.

 Shaklee Dist.