The joys of country life continue. The weather has taken a sharp turn and it is very cold tonight. Today we broke down and dressed warm including socks. I usually run around barefooted in the house but not today. It was COLD. I guess the skunks were put off by the weather and came in to feed a little early. We finally got a glimpse of them.
Hubby called to have us hold the dogs inside, and turn off the lights in the office so he could see in the dark to get a good shot. My two little dogs were so confused. They didn't like being yelled at and then when the lights went out and the shots rang out, well, they won't come out from under my desk. And that's just fine. They are sleeping with their heads on my feet.
That is one skunk that won't be back. Even with his military moves he was shot. His zig zag retreat from the yard wasn't as successful as his friends. He got to the trampoline and then went in a circle. Obviously hit. I usually have a difficult time seeing an animal hurt, but I have to say I have a totally different reaction to skunks being shot. We'll have to examine the area in the morning when we can see better. Disposing of a dead skunk is tricky but necessary to keep the dogs from getting into the mess.
I HATE SKUNKS! I have no use for them. They make life quite miserable, especially when they spray the rock wall right out my front door. The whole house is filled with the smell and your eyes will burn and you cough until it fades. And it takes a long time to fade.
We have used many things to clean up the smell when the dogs get sprayed or roll in the grass where one sprayed. Tomato juice works ok, but it takes a lot, and leather collars have to be thrown away as they hold the smell for years. Now we are using a baking soda and hydrogen proxide mixture that works really good and doesn't take as much. The rock wall out front was harder to clean up. Nothing seemed to work. I hosed it off, even bleached it. But finally I tried fabreeze for laundry. I used it straight out of the sprayer and it cut the smell. Surprise. Expensive as it is, it made my front yard plesant again.
Skunks dig holes in the grass, making it look like an abused golf course, then they spray the area to mark it, and if you have a little dog they can do damage to them as they have razor like claws and will spray and then claw if the dog doesn't retreat from the spray. So far skunks are the one animal I am sure I would like removed from the planet. I would mind that one bit.
We've had lots of critters come through, and I don't mind most of them. I enjoy the fox, quail are beautiful, I respect the big cats that have wondered thru on occasion. I love watching Eagles, Owls, deer, and falcons. But no skunks and no badgers either!
