Writing Samples

For more of the articles listed below or for other complete articles for publication, please contact me at AllenEasterly@yahoo.com

Magazine articles published and available for resale are:
The Chicken and the Egg
Tastes Just Like Chicken
Raising Quail
Building Groundhog Snares
Build Your Own Repeating Mousetrap
Living on a Little Land in Suburbia
When the Bull Hit the Fan
Mothers, Jugs and Beaver Lines

I was the feature article and "Business Link" article writer for the Blue Ridge Marketplace Community Newspaper during its lifetime. Articles covered a wide variety of seasonal and local topics as well as current events and festivals.

I write a wildlife column, At The Forest's Edge, for The Chronicle Newspapers. The article below is a sample of my writing style. Similar articles are also available:

Beaver
Black Rat Snake
Bluebird
Bobcat
Box Turtle
Brown Bat
Cardinal
Chipmunks
Coyote
Copperhead Snake
Crow
Eagle
Frog/Toad
Flying Squirrel
Grey Squirrel
Groundhog
Hognose Snake
Mink
Mocking Bird
Morning Dove
Mouse
Muskrat
Newts
Opossum
Pileated Woodpecker
Rabbits
Raccoon
Raptors
Rat Snake
Red Backed Salamander
Red Fox
Ring Necked Snake
Screech Owl
Skink
Southern Bog Lemming
Spring Peepers
Stickpot Turtle
Sunfish
Water Snake
Winter Critters
Whitetail Deer

The following is a 750 word wildlife article published in a local newspaper.

Oh The Smell of Fresh Spring Air

By Allen Easterly

Ah, spring is in the air.  Hack, cough, pew, what’s that awful smell?  Why it’s none other than that country kitty, the striped skunk.  He’s out and about from February to March in search of a mate.  If you cross his path, you’ll know it.

The skunk common to the eastern part of Virginia is the mephitis mephitis nigra, though you may know him better as Pepe’ Le Pew.  He’s also been called polecat, and because of his unique odor, a few names we can’t print here.  Charles Darwin called them zorillos.  Our neighborhood country kitty is about the size of a house cat, with black and white striped course long fur, small rounded ears, and black eyes.  When Pepe’ Le Pew finds his sweetheart, Penelope, they’ll produce a litter of two to ten little young stinkers in May.

If you’re lucky, you might see them as the young follow the mother single file on hunting trips.  They eat ground nesting birds and their eggs, and occasionally enjoy a duck dinner.  When these delicacies aren’t available they waste no time devouring insects and small mammals.  Skunks also enjoy the sweetness of fruit and honey.  They won’t turn up their nose at a nice cat or dog food dinner left on the porch and your garbage can is like an all-you-eat buffet to them.  Once they seize their prey they eat immediately, except in the case of some caterpillars and toads.  These tasty morsels are first rolled on the ground to remove any spines or skin toxins. They also enjoy dining at the roadside café enjoying fresh road kill.  When they’re not careful, they become road kill themselves, as I’m sure you’ll notice when you pass one by.

They are primarily nocturnal and are most active at dawn and dusk. They usually make their dens in other animals’ burrows.  But when there’s no vacancy at the local groundhog hole, they dig their own den, with several well-hidden entrances and lined chambers.  Unfortunately for some of us, these dens are sometimes excavated under our homes or sheds, bringing an unwelcome perfume to our daily activities. 

It’s best not to try uprooting them from their cozy den on your own, unless you want to smell like a skunk for the next six months.  Even color-blind animals recognize the black and white coloring as a warning.  Irritate a polecat and he’ll irritate you back.  When threatened, they will arch their backs, stamp their feet, and shuffle backwards, sometimes hissing or growling.  This is your last warning before they hit you with their main weapon of defense, a strongly scented, yellow liquid. You know you’re in trouble when he bends his body into a U-shape pointing both its rear end and face towards you. It aims the nipples of its scent glands and shoots up to two teaspoons of the musky liquid in a 30 to 45 degree arc. The liquid can be discharged in either a mist or a stream and is accurate up to about 10 feet but can reach out up to 16 feet.

When hit in the eyes, the spray can cause burning and temporary blindness due to watering of the eyes.  Or is that really crying caused by loss of pride in being bested by a little country kitty.  Of course the assault on your olfactory is far worse and longer lasting.  Not only will your olfactory sense be assaulted, so will even the most insensitive human nose anywhere up to a mile downwind.  Won’t your neighbors just love that!

What’s the cure for the smell?  There are all kinds of claims such as the most popular tomato juice.  There is also vinegar, vanilla, and special enzyme products. These all help reduce the smell but nothing completely removes the scent except time.  In a few weeks the smell will be nearly negligible until you get wet.  That seems to bring it back as a reminder to leave country kitties alone.  After about six months that will disappear, too.

Skunks usually live two to six years.  Almost half of all skunk deaths are caused by humans, mostly as a result of fast cars and slower skunks.  Fewer than ten percent survive for more than three years.  Enjoy your spring, and the next time you see a live zorillo on the highway, give him a brake, there may be ten little ones lined up behind looking for dinner.