william boles wrote:
> I have a few skunks that hang around my mobile home, including one I named
> 'Limpy' due to a bad limp he/she has.
>
> Dripdry
>
>
>> From: KitFox <kitfox_at_firstlight.net>
>> Reply-To: SkunkworksAMA_at_yahoogroups.com
>> To: SkunkworksAMA_at_yahoogroups.com
>> Subject: [SkunkworksAMA] Real life skunk encounters... for better of for
>> worse.
>> Date: Sun, 03 Dec 2006 21:25:17 -0700
>>
>>
>>> --- In SkunkworksAMA_at_yahoogroups.com, "sirfoxxie" <sirfox@...> wrote:
>>>> folks, we're getting rather off-topic again. Could you take any
>>>> anti-virus software advice and/or flames to private email?
>> At 08:33 PM 12/3/2006, hairygosimer wrote:
>>> I agree.....
>> I both agree, and see you agreement and raise you a topic...
>>
>> Who out there on this list has had any real life skunk encounters? Live
>> ones, not roadkill. Good encounters, bad encounters, whichever.
>>
>> So I was sitting on the step of the walkway petting the two neighborhood
>> cats. Cold day (25F) and my nose was non-operational. The cats were happy
>> to rub against me and climb repeatedly over my lap.
>>
>> Something else nosed at my back, and I figured it was either a dog or
>> another cat, since the two cats took one look at it, hissed, and scampered
>> off. The intruder wandered around beside me, rubbing against me the whole
>> way, and seemed friendly enough, so I reached down to pet it. Odd
>> shape... Weird fur... Huh? *Glance down at skunk that was sniffing my
>> leg*
>>
>> I contemplated freaking out and running, but the darn things can spray 20
>> feet, so startling it would be a bad idea. I just got that sort of deer in
>> the headlights facing oncoming doom type of frozen status. The skunk just
>> happily climbed into my lap and flopped there for warmth. So I was stuck
>> with a dilemma... How does one evict a lap skunk without getting sprayed?
>>
>> I was saved shortly afterwards when another pedestrian wandered by. He
>> noted that that thing on my lap looked an awful lot like a skunk. He
>> approached, wondering how I got a pet skunk. The skunk took affront at the
>> invasion and climbed off my lap, doing the signature handstand at the guy,
>> who I quickly informed that it was NOT my skunk, and coming closer probably
>> wasn't a good idea. So he backed off.
>>
>> The skunk apparently decided my lap was too close to a high-traffic area
>> and vanished under the bushes nearby, leaving me skunkless and safe. Was a
>> heck of a time explaining it to the guy, but he thought it was amusing
>> anyway.
>>
>> Any other live skunk stories of any type? Details! Need details!
>>
>>
My skunk stories are not so interesting. The NESFA clubhouse, which
is in SOmverville, MA (heavily populated barely suburban area near
Boston). No basement, just a crawl space, which some unknown number of
skunks seemed to decide to make their dens there. Normally a good
thing, the place is empty most of the time, except for one sunday a
month for the monthly business meeting, and the regular wednesday
evening social gathering. Said skunks, quite upset over crowds of
noisy humans stomping around on their ceiling, would spray and
presumably depart.
None of us ever saw them. The neighbors saw them a couple of times
over the years. We finally got up our courage (and a couple of gas
masks) and went around the building stomping and pounding to drive them
out, then repaired outside and fixed all of the holes, cracks, and
egresses to the crawl space, leaving one hole open with a one way door
flap over it so they could get out if they were too scared to leave.
Next week, Wednesday evening. Yup, eau-de-skunk. So next
saturday, we repeat the process, finding a couple of new holes to fix,
and covering a few that we had skipped, on the theory that they were too
small for a skunk.
That seemed to have done the trick. A few weeks later we nailed
shut the escape door and congratulated ourselves. LIttle did we know
that the funny pipe we had discovered sticking out of the ground, lead
to an old abandoned underground oil tank from ghod knows how long ago,
which cost us almost $20k to have tested, emptied and removed.
There are skunks around my home. They love to dig up the grubs in
the lawn and eat them. But never see them, just like the deer. Find
the denuded plants, tracks, and their droppings, but that's it.
--Dale
Received on Tue Dec 05 2006 - 17:05:29 CST