26 .04.2010

A friendly couple came to the motel we were in, and we struck up a conversation. Des asked if we could take some pictures of his utility vehicle (they call them trucks in the USA). Brandon said "Be my guest", and even backed it out for us to take some pictures. It was ANZAC Day in Australia, so we took out our Aussie flags for the photos too. Both Brandon and his wife are about 5'2 and 5’4 so the big truck seemed like over-kill for them, but obviously very comfortable.

The following day, I was walking on the jetty in the old town of Florence when I met Brandon and his wife again. They were buying fresh fish from the fishmonger on the pier. They told me a funny story about their skunk invasion. Apparently, they had some skunks settle in their home and had a hell of a time getting rid of them. Brandon made a timber board with a circle cut out of it and rested it on the open end of a large garbage can. He placed a tin of tuna in the bottom of the garbage can and half filled the garbage can with water . The skunks came up the board, went to eat the tuna and dropped into the water. When Brandon had a captive,he could get it off the property. They managed to get rid of all but one skunk from the house, which was spraying a shocking odour throughout. They finally located the skunk in the home and shot it!

They had a terrific job of getting the smell out of the home and had to clean everything with tomato juice. Apparently, that gets rid of the acid content of the oily odour. After which they had to wash everything down with something that smelled better than tomato juice. What a job.

Lou came back with a story about a guy who packed up his Harley in a weather proof motor cycle bag, to keep it in good condition. Due to unforeseen circumstances, the bike remained untouched for six months. When the guy unzipped the cover, he got the fright of his life to find a large family of rats had settled into it. His beautiful Harley was ruined, as the rats had eaten through all the wiring, the seating and anything fabric, plastic or leather on the vehicle. (No photos, sorry!)

During the time Lynn had her bike covered for a two day period, here in the US, a spider had made its web between the mirror and the cover. The spider was later located inside the cover.