~There's a Skunk in the House!~

Well, there's not actually a skunk IN the house.  I have a tendency to exaggerate when something exciting happens.

We have, what I call, a lean-to attached to the back of the house where we have an interior faucet, store the grilling supplies and also houses our water treatment thingamajig.  The other day, Mr. Bill was out doing his usual chores.  He needed to fill our horses' water trough and went to attach the hose to the faucet in the lean-to.  When he opened the door, lo and behold, there was a skunk sitting there staring up at him!!  That sent Mr. Bill into backup mode....bet that was a sight!  *snort, snort*

The skunk had to have been in there several days.  You can see the damage he did trying to get out.  Pulled off some drywall and then proceeded to dig out the insulation....sigh.  Backing up here a little....one night when I was getting ready for bed, the sudden onset of a skunk spraying near the house was so bad I just about gagged!  Something that happens in the country quite regularly.  We didn't think anything about it and went to bed trying to stifle the awful smell that was permeating the house.  Lovely, huh?

That big tall cylinder is the water treatment thingamajig.  So moving into the present...the poor little guy had been shut in there for several days and it's amazing he survived the heatwave we had going on.  He is fairly young and was either too scared or too weak to do his thing on Mr. Bill.  Whew...good thing!

He had me come over to see what caused that skunk smell.  I couldn't believe it.  It was just too funny and sad at the same time.  Of course, I had to run and get the camera to get proof of our little story. The little guy was still in there during this time and we were staying a safe distance away in case he decided to venture out.  We figured he must have meandered in there one night when the door was left open during watering time and then got shut in when the water hose was disconnected.

What can I say?

The door had to be left open so the little skunk could come out when he was ready to (probably at nightfall since they are nocturnal) and so the lean-to could be aired out. Good news is that little skunk left the premises and the skunk smell is pretty well gone.  The bad news is that some repair work needs to be done.  I don't think we should report it to the insurance company.  I don't think they would believe us.