Part 2: Close and personal with a skunk

Good day all. This is part 2 in my saga of being a homeowner in Crestline and Lake Arrowhead. You can read part 1 at http://activerain.com/blogsview/2177947/my-butt-is-freezing-and-other-mountain-home-ownership-stories.

...After noticing the hole going under the house right by the front door, I get mad. How can I not have ever noticed this hole here before? How could that skunk have dug himself a hole by my main front door without me noticing? We have smelled skunk over the last couple of months but figured he was walking through the yard. And now he was under my house.

How was I supposed to come and go when this smelly new unwelcome tenant could surprise me while carrying my son at any time? I had visions of us getting sprayed and worried about leaving the house. My husband was surprised when I called him. He also hadn’t noticed the hole.

At this point I really wanted to shoot the little sucker but then what if I didn’t just scare him but hurt him enough so that he sprayed me or died under there? I go back inside and start stomping on the floor, rattling the cover on the furnace to see if I could scare him enough to leave. That only scared him further into his hidey hole and he sprayed to protect himself anyways. I got a good whiff of skunk after I did that right by the front door under the kitchen floor. Just the place where you’d want to smell skunk huh?

Having one of the best handymen up here on the mountain as a friend, I called him and begged for help! Fortunately he had just picked up a trap from another home where he relocated that unwelcome tenant.

My husband got home and went under the house where I thought the skunk was. He crawls all over and finally I hear a pop. He doesn’t say a word, then backs out slowly on his stomach. Then pop, pop. I ask what was going on. He doesn’t say anything, then one more pop and he yells “go cover the hole!!! Quick!!!” I begin running back to the front of the house, then stop as I realize it could be coming into the back yard right at me and I am stupidly running towards it. I pick up a large branch. It’s dusk by this time and I got that branch not a moment too soon as I see the shadow of the skunk moving around the corner of the house! I start shouting and waving the branch and beating it on the ground. Thank the good Lord that he turns around and runs out into the front yard. I round the corner slowly and he’s running down the steps towards the front of the house. I throw that branch towards him with all my strength and quickly cover the hole with whatever I can find and then shovel some snow and dirt on top.

In the morning our handyman brings the trap over and sets it up. Guess who we got in there that same night? Mr. Skunk trying to get back into the den.

Lesson learned for all of us that own mountain property in Lake Arrowhead and Crestline. Walk around your home every few days and make sure that there aren’t any dens being created by the local wildlife. Keep your basements closed off to intruders.

It’s mating season for skunks. Can you imagine if we’d had another one plus babies???