Not so weird

after all. Last night a skunk sprayed in the back yard, and the odor lingered at the top of the cellar stairs much longer than anywhere else in the house. So that's that. About fifteen minutes after this realization, one of the cats was howling and growling and hissing and spitting in the family room, the scene of Sunday night's skirmish. She was at the big front window, which has four panes that crank out and a sill that's only about a foot from the floor. She was on the sill having a fit, and the skunk was right outside. We're really lucky that it didn't try to spray at her through the screen, on either night. So, now we know what the big fight really was about, and those windows are staying closed at night.