Sheep smells and dead gophers
Rursday, November 14, 2002 - 12:51

This morning walking to school I saw two dead gophers. This brings the total number of gophers I've seen in the last two days to four: three dead, one alive.

I don't know how I could have gone 26 years without seeing any gophers in person, and then all of a sudden this week they're all over the place.

I think it's maybe because it rained so much last week. Maybe the gophers' homes were flooded and many drowned.

It rained more last week than it did all last winter. It was nice. I enjoy interesting weather.

The rain caused all the wetlands to become wet again. It also caused much of the land to stink. Some fields now smell like crap, others smell like crotches--obviously the sign of a healthy environment.

Last night when I came home the field near the wetlands my apartment complex was built on smelled distinctly of sheep. I smelled it and said to myself, "Sheep. It smells like sheep."

Then I wondered how I knew it smelled like sheep as opposed to pigs or goats or llamas. I'm from a fairly rural area, yes, but I'm a town kid. I didn't grow up on a farm. I didn't know anyone with sheep. How is it, then, that I can so confidently identify the smell of sheep?

I really don't know. Maybe I'm blocking something from my memory.