Dragonfly

Dragonflies have to be my favourite insects. Their sleek, colourful styling is more like a futuristic spacecraft than an ancient insect species.
In the summer, dragonflies seem to thrive around British Columbia. This was one of a pair that were flying around a reed bed on the edge of Whiteswan Lake in the Kootenay region of Southeastern BC, not far from the Alberta border. We visited this area in August 2005, our first summer in Canada, on our way back from a stay in Edmonton.
I stood in the water on the edge of the lake and just waited for the right moment as the dragonflies hovered around, darting from side to side. I seem to remember things weren't helped much by two young boys chucking things in the lake from the water's edge. Still, dragonflies aren't scared easily and so I managed to get some nice pictures.

Skunk works

Our house is becoming something of a wildlife reserve. We currently have some kind of rodent living in our basement - it seems to have found its way into the wall gaps, or possibly the heating ducts. This rodent, which seems a bit too big to be a mouse, but a bit small for a rat, joins our longer-term resident skunk (or skunks) that nest under the shed where I keep my bike (under our deck).

 

I had a close encounter with the skunk last night. When I first realised the skunk was living there (they don't hide their presence well) I tried to block the gap through which it was entering and leaving with a small plank. It kept pushing the plank over. I was reluctant to do anything too drastic like nailing the plank up, just in case the skunk was actually trapped inside. I suspect the one thing that might smell worse than a live skunk is a dead one.
As I cycled home last night I saw a skunk cross the road not far from our back alley. Having crossed the road, it made a bee-line for the alley as I overtook it. I thought "this must be our skunk - it's out, so maybe I can block the hole now". I quickly got into the garden, found the old plank and wedged it in place. Unfortunately, it had been sitting in the rain since December and was now rotten - it broke. Having blocked the hole as best as I could I proceeded to put my bike away. The door to the shed is directly above the hole where the skunk gets underneath.
As I was putting the bike in, I glanced down and spotted a white head sniffing my shoe. I jumped backwards, slightly alarmed. The skunk, fortunately, was similarly surprised and ran off towards our neighbours' garden. A bit of an anticlimax for you the reader, maybe, but it is actually the first positive proof (other than the smell) that it is actually a skunk living in our yard.
Elder was very excited when I told him about this. He wondered why the skunk was trying to get in the hole at the same time I was parking my bike. I suggested maybe the skunk was coming home from work too. And thus I discovered the origin of another bizarre turn of phrase!