skunks, anyone?

So by now, if you've read some or most of my blogs, you might have a small understanding of the luck that Scott and I have - um, DO NOT have, I mean. Most of the time (though I will write sarcastically about most of these events), Scott and I laugh it off because what else are we going to do.

During a warm spell early this spring, a lady skunk decided it was time to find her mate. She sprayed in a most unopportune location - under our 3-season sunroom. The smell was unbearable in our house. It was very much like the skunk sprayed in our heating vents. The stench lingered in the air and it took WEEKS for it to dissipate fully. Worse yet, a fews days after the skunk sprayed, I was to make a trip to northern Maine to visit my family. Along the way, I picked up a lady and her daughter and drove them to Bangor. We "hooked up" via mutual friends and I liked the idea of helping out this very nice woman from the county. But my van reeked of skunk. It was humiliating to meet this woman and impose the nasty smell upon her and her 8 year old child. But what was I to do. Not only did our house smell bad, but our vehicles did as well. I can't imagine what friends or passerbys thought of us. We learned a lot about skunks after that. We hired a man to come in a trap the skunk, which of course did not work. The skunk came and went, lingering long enough to let us know she was in heat. What we need to do, but cannot afford to do at this point in time, is to build a wire fence that digs 5 feet below the ground and surrounds our sunroom to keep the skunks from making a home under there. However, a repeat spray 2 nights ago may change our minds quickly. Luckily, the spray was only in our backyard, so the smell was gone the next morning. But to be safe, we've left our lights on in the backyard because skunks are nocturnal and don't appreciate the bright light. This isn't very energy efficient either, so we'll have to figure out what to do before spring comes. The joy of homeownership!