After a wonderful Christmas vacation to Houston, I have returned to Chicago, to the threat of an ice-storm and to continued recuperation from a nasty cold/cough that developed on my trip. I must share what happened on the first evening of my visit. Timothy and Felicia invited us over for dinner. I was ready to go after a day of no-food traveling. My appetite was whetted upon learning that Tim was grilling chicken for a Caesar's salad. After Margaret pulled into T&F's driveway, we saw a nice, plump skunk meandering his way from the driver's side of Tim's truck to the area of the back door. Margaret immediately announced, as she reached for her cell phone, "I'm going to call them!" Margaret spoke to Felicia, telling her about the skunk and then I heard Margaret spelling "...S.......K........U......N.......K" with great emphasis. But, by that time, the phone connection had been broken. Now, this is what happened. When Margaret phoned, Felicia couldn't understand the message because the phone connection kept breaking up. Since Felicia knew that we were right outside in the driveway, she decided to break the connection and come out to see what Margaret wanted. Felicia opened her back door. She saw the skunk. She screamed. He sprayed. After we heard Felicia scream, we saw the skunk amble his way to the neighbor's back yard. By the time Margaret and I entered through the front door, Felicia was already in the shower and a not-pleasant fragrance permeated the air. This is how my vacation trip started.