Unpleasant Surprises - Part II

Thank you all for the birthday wishes.

I spent most of my birthday engaged in a battle to fend off a cold that all my students seem to be getting. This meant a lot of vitamin C, fluids, and even some yoga breathing exercises. It seems to have worked because I am feeling better now.

However, all Friday I was somewhat out of it. I had to go to a lecture on campus in the evening. As I was making my way across the dark campus, I noticed a strange bush by the side of the walkway. In my feeble-minded state, I thought to myself: "I have never noticed that bush there before even though this is the way I walk to my office everyday."

As I walked by it, the bush suddenly sprung up and turned sticking its quills up in the air. "Crap! That's not a bush, it is a procupine!" it quickly dawned upon me as I ran away from it.

I have only seen a porcupine in the wild once before, and it was at a distance. They are very shy animals, so I am quite surprised that one was rumaging around on a college campus in a small city. Moreover, this particular one was rather large. The others I have seen in captivity have been much smaller.

Yet another danger of living in a small place: rampant, rumaging wildlife.