this damned husky killed a skunk in the backyard, damnit!
last wednesday night (or more like early thursday morning), hubster went to get the baby husky inside. we've mostly got her trained to come running when we knock on the deck door. usually we have to knock once and she is on her way... once in a while, we have to knock twice. this time, she wasn't responding at all. the only other times she hasn't responded is when she's got something down in the yard that she's guarding or disposing of. a few months back, she and the big husky cornered a ... i think it was a woodchuck ... in the corner of the yard. the worst was some blood. this night ... hubster opened the door and all of a sudden i hear "OH SHIT! SHE HAS A SKUNK!"
now a few months ago, our friend's dog killed a skunk and we heard all about how it was a week or more before the smell was gone... so i was prepared for stink ... but holy fucking cow!!! i was not prepared.
hubster got her inside, put her in her crate while he disposed of the dead skunk. the smell was ... horrendous. i was gagging almost immediately. but .. when he got her into the bathroom, that's when i really gagged. like eye-watering gagging... like it's a good thing i had not had anything to eat for a couple hours ... gagging.
it's almost a week later and i am still smelling skunk in the house.
and let me tell you everything we've done to get rid of it.
that night, we had no skunk odour removal on hand and no apple cider vinegar. we had white vinegar ... so he soaked her in white vinegar. it did not help ... not in the least. so i went for like a 20lb bag of baking soda i had downstairs. i sprinkled it everywhere ... we put chairs on the couch so she would stay off the couch. she doesn't usually get on the bed at night because draega won't have it, but she does sleep at the foot of the bed. so the next morning i had to sprinkle the entire room down with baking soda again. i put a pot on the stove with vinegar and put warm vinegar in jars all over the house. that didn't help either. she's been bathed almost every night since last thursday. with skunk odour removal and skunk odour shampoo. we got a spray and have been spraying that everywhere since last night.
that night, i was real mad at hubster because he really was not helping me get through the ordeal. it was my first encounter with a skunk up close. so the next day, his bff (and my maid of honour) pinged me with plenty of support and advice and i told her how mad i was that he left me to deal with it on my own. heh ...😏 anyway, she suggested i open the house all the way and put a pot on the stove with cinnamon stick and cloves and i added nutmeg and had it simmering all day. that helped. all that was left on thursday night was her and small spots around the house where we couldn't quite pinpoint where it was. and those spots kinda remain today.
the spices in question ... 👇🏾
side note: the nutmeg i used came with me from jamaica in 2008. it was picked from a tree in my grandmother's yard several years before. still good.
#tangent - and you know what, if i had thought about it at all before that night, i would have realised that skunk up close was going to be 100 times worse than it is when i smell it going by on the interstate. i mean, travelling at ... what? 50-60mph (and why the hell am i still thinking imperial?) ... and the smell sticks with us for miles ... why would i think it would be not that much worse right up close and personal? i mean ... and btw, skunks spray only as a last resort and considering what syla's nose looked like with scrapes and bruises, this poor skunk sprayed as a dying move ... cos ... there was now way it was going to survive an encounter with syla.
anyway ... i digress ...
the point is that a week later i am sitting with skunk smell all around me. syla's collar is trashed, i have to wash a million pupper towels at some point, the carpets and rugs are covered in baking soda, and i am in an almost constant state of nausea. i am so over it now...