There has to be better places than that.

What can make a phone smell like skunk?

I grew up in the sticks, so I know what a skunk smells like. And now I live in Barrow where there are no skunks. So. What can we think of that would make a telephone receiver smell like skunk? At first I thought someone had burned popcorn, but no. Holding the phone to ear-level gave me a full whiff of skunkiness. And if I were one Enid Strict I would twist my little mouth up and wonder out loud what could it be, what could it be? Could it be...

I'm pretty sure it wasn't Satan. But there is something that can smell an awful lot like a skunk that does exist here. The only real question is who had enough of it on them to stink up a phone without setting off the smoke detectors at a preschool work room?

Awww.

I just found out Brian Jacques has died. I still remember the first time I read one of his books. It was Redwall and it had beautiful cover art and the other kids in my 5th grade class couldn't decide if I was weird for reading such a big book or for reading one about mice with swords. I loved it though and had to wait a whole week to go back and see if there was more. And there was!

I loved the series for the vivid descriptions. When Mr. Jacques wrote about sunbeams, I felt warmer, more golden, and surrounded by motes. And it wasn't just cutesy. There were battles and blood. The little woodland animals were betrayed and besieged and had to fight to the death. And don't even get me started on the food. It was hard to read any of his books without a snack break because he filled the stories with wonderful descriptions of food. When he also published a cookbook of some of the meals he had written about, I had to have one.

So, thank you Mr. Jacques, wherever you are. Your books were a bright spot at a rough age and I never forgot it.