When we arrived at our cabin my wife turned to me and said "skunk". I sniffed my armpits thinking that wasn't very nice...
But she was right, there was a faint odor of skunk in the air. We'd smelled it on our previous trip. It was a lot like that whiff you catch when driving down the freeway. There was one living nearby we figured. Oh well, such is life in the "domesticated wild" in which our cabin resides.
The next morning was weeding time. With much moaning about how I always seem to be pulling weeds...grumble grumble grumble...
I froze when something caught my eye.
Next to the air conditioner was our skunk. He appeared curled up and, dare I say, asleep?
If there is a world record for reverse long jumping, I broke it when the skunk moved. Everything I'd ever learned about being sprayed and the long-lasting effects were foremost in my mind. We didn't have any tomato juice...did we?
But it was alright, he settled down again.
The next hour was spent phoning pest control companies all of which either didn't pick up, return calls or deal with skunks. Finally, a call to the local police for information got us the name of my hero, Steve Gouker. "Skunk?," he said, "I'll be there in twenty minutes."
Within half an hour a pickup truck with Steve and son Cutter arrived. Steve got out and walked towards the air conditioner. I was expecting something out of a science fiction movie, radiation suit, oxygen tank etc, but not Steve. He strode up to the vicinity, looked at the skunk and called to Cutter. "Cutter, bring the stick and a trap."
The battle began. The skunk was squirting his foul-smelling liquid and it was nothing like that brief whiff on the highway. This was full-blown, pure evil-smelling burnt rubber and it burned.
But the skunk didn't budge.
"He's got his head stuck under the AC," explained Steve.
There are a series of small holes under the unit. Somehow, our skunk was inspired to insert his head in one. He hadn't been sleeping. He'd been wondering if his day could have gotten any worse. It was about to.
"I can't get him out. I think he might die." Steve wasn't able to move the critter who now had our sympathy. While we watched, Cutter told us that they'd seen this sort of thing before, though the skunk was usually dead by the time they were called out.
"Got him!"
Steve stepped back holding his snake stick with skunk on the end. Not a very happy creature, probably embarrassed, certainly all out of stink.
Into the trap he went, to be relocated to a somewhat more remote part of the White Mountains.
Steve told us that he'd been called out a lot this year, skunks were everywhere it seemed. Well, we'd built our cabin in "skunk land", so it was hardly surprising. We were glad the little guy survived and was going to new pastures.
Steve and Cutter drove off into the morning sun with one smelly passenger and two loyal customers...and a stink that would remain a few days...out of sight, but not out of mind.
If you're in the White Mountains area and need critters removed, I would heartily recommend Steve Gouker (and Cutter), owner of Critter Ridder and Sons.
"Oh boy, what's he doing now?"
Excellent question and I'm glad you asked. Let me answer with another question: how do you want to be remembered?
"You mean....?"
Yes, when you get to "the end".
Kidding aside it's a serious question. Personally, I want people to look back and think "there was a good person, who delighted in helping others".
So, the second question is: are you practicing your legacy in marketing now?
"Uh-oh, sermon..."
Actually, it's not.
If you think about it for a moment, if you want to be remembered, or look back one day and say "wow, look what I was able to do," consider what you're doing today in order to be able to have that vision to look back upon.
Are you building pyramids using the strengths of others, or are you building pyramids with others?
If you truly want to be remembered as a good person who helped people realized their dreams, or someone who dedicated their lives to a cause, or a committed individual who just wanted to see people grow, then consider putting that philosophy into practice now.
You only get one pass at this life, and you're the driver. You may not care what you think in 20, 30, 40 or more years from now. You may care even less about what others may think. But you know something? I'll bet it shows...
I write about different marketing strategies and techniques, both traditional and non in my online newsletter Webby's Updates which you can read at www.JDELtd.com and subscribe to if you so choose. You can download this and other articles from by Small Business GENetics site, www.sbgenetics.com
This post idea came to me after I read a very good entry on Steph Adamo's blog titled "Tropicana Redesign", in which Steph points out that there was nothing wrong with the "old" Tropicana carton design and that the "new" look is in fact, rather awful.
The post has since been featured on Yahoo! and other places. From the reaction to this comment, I think most people agree that, at least in this case, Tropicana (or rather Pepsico) should have left it alone.
But this raises a point. Especially in these turbulent times, people are looking for something different. Marketing is no exception. Whether it's a new look or new approach, different gets noticed is conventional thinking. As a marketing consultant, I can agree and attest to this...to a point.
Sometimes tradition is also good. Take the upcoming 4th of July. Could anyone imagine it much different that it's been pretty much since the first Independence Day? How about Thanksgiving? Of course we don't want to change these things, the way we celebrate is traditional! Shame on me for even talking about it!
In these rapidly changing days and weeks when everything is moving so quickly, change can be positive, but so can stability.
Looking at the old Tropicana carton I see something that is very familiar. The new one isn't. Did they really need to change it? Well, someone at Pepsi thought so, but how about marketing tradition instead of change? Something along the lines of "everything is changing, but some things don't" or "we got it right first time, why change". You get the idea.
I call this concept "remarketing". Look at many small companies (and some large ones). You see things like "serving the community since 1982..." or longer. That implies a tradition, familiarity and a tried and true method. Why not advertise the fact?
Sometimes change isn't the way to be different. Sometimes being the only one that doesn't change can be just a unique.
I write about different marketing strategies and techniques, both traditional and non in my online newsletter Webby's Updates which you can read at www.JDELtd.com and subscribe to if you so choose. You can download this and other articles from by Small Business GENetics site, www.sbgenetics.com
The July edition of Webby's Updates is now online at www.JDELtd.com. Simply visit the site and click on the "news" button to read it.
This month features include two marketing pieces, JDE client reviews, news, new website launches and, of course, Webby's Trivia.
Happy 4th of July!
I LOVE ARIZONA!
By Jill Segrove
Why? Because Arizona is the only state where you can say "Chuckwalla" and get away with it. You can live in towns like "Christmas", or actually meet the Flintstones in Bedrock City.
However, the biggest reason I love Arizona is that it's landcape is forever etched into my mind. When Katherine L. Bates wrote the lyrics to America the Beautiful, she had to be standing in Arizona. There is no other place where you will find amber waves of grain, purple mountain majesties, and fruited plains harvested together. Here are some other interesting things about the land that I love:
Four Corners Monument is the only place in the United States you can stand in four states at the same time - Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah.
Offically known as "The Grand Canyon State", Arizona became the 48th state on February 14, 1912 giving us the nickname "The Valentine State".
The world's largest solar telescope is located at Kitts Peak National Observatory in the city of Sells.
At one time camels were used to transport goods across Arizona. Today, it is illegal to hunt camels in Arizona.
A person who lives in Arizona is called an Arizonan.
The Arizona trout is found only in the Arizona.
The bola tie is the official state neckwear.
The amount of copper on the roof of the Capitol building is equivalent to 4,800,000 pennies.
Arizona finally completed the last section of Interstate 10 in 1990. You can now travel from Florida to California without having to access the back roads of Phoenix.
Arizona observes Mountain Standard Time on a year round basis. We never have to change our clocks.
The original London Bridge was shipped stone-by-stone and reconstructed in Lake Havasu City.
The Arizona tree frog is the state official amphibian. The frog is actually between three-quarter to two inches long.
Once the 4th largest city in the Arizona territory, the copper mining town of Jerome dwindled to as few as 50 people after the mines closed in 1953. It is now the largest ghost town in America.
Located in Fountain Hills is a fountain believed to be the tallest in the world.
Phoenix originated in 1866 as a hay camp to supply Camp McDowell.
Arizona leads the nation in copper production.
If you've been to school in Arizona, you'll know "the 5Cs" or Arizona "Commodities" : Climate, Copper, Citrus, Cotton and Cattle.
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