A Skunk and A Leaf Blower

Several years ago I had a cat named Bob, he was named Bob because he had no tale (it had been run over by a car when he was a kitten, and it was amputated). Bob was an outside cat, and he spend his nights in the garage. We would close the garage doors before going to bed to keep the neighbors cats, and any other unwanted critters away from Bob and his food.

One night I forgot to close the doors, and when Elizabeth came out to drive to work in the morning, Bob was on top of her car, and things were knocked over in the garage like a cat fight had happened. She started looking under the cars and around the tools and mowers until she finally found the problem.

It was a skunk, and it was trying very hard to hide in the farthest corner away from the doors under the water heater. I told Elizabeth to go on to work, and I proceeded to take everything out of the garage, hoping the skunk would be uncomfortable and leave. It didn’t work, he seemed very determined to stay in the corner and wait until dark, not something that I liked at all.

I had this crazy idea, and I would have had someone else to help, I would have recorded it, because it would have made me some money. I have a gas-powered leaf blower, and I thought this would be a great time to start it up. The skunk did not like the sound of that motor, and he started running toward the doors, but then changed his mind and ran back to his hiding place. I decided to turn the blower on him, he really didn’t like that, and I thought he was going to try to spray me, but I think skunks know not to spray into the wind, so it didn’t happen.

What did happen is that after about 15 seconds of this, he bolted for the doors, and then changed his mind again. But things were different this time, I was between the skunk and his hiding place, with the leaf blower going full blast. If you’ve seen the cartoons were characters were moving their feet but still sliding backwards, that was the skunk. When I had finally pushed him to the doorway, he turned around and ran around the corner of the house. I thought it was over.

With the leaf blower still running I looked around the corner of the house just in time to see my neighbors mother standing in the front of his yard looking at their  Russell Terrier  chase the skunk around their house. Too late for me to do anything, the dog came running back after being sprayed. I went back to putting my garage back in order and didn’t think anything else about it.

My neighbor called me later that day to tell me the rest of the story. His mother was visiting for a few days and was home alone with the dog while he and his wife were both working. After the dog was sprayed by the skunk, she let the dog back in the house to give it a bath.Of course the dog wanted to get the smell off as quick as possible so he rolled on the carpet while she was running water in the master bath.

They tried lots of different chemicals to eliminate of hide the smell in the house, but it was really slow disappearing. I don’t know what she was thinking, but it was a lesson learned by the family, and one worth remembering. Give the dog a bath outside with whatever you use to was dishes, don’t let the dog in the house if he smells, and keep the garage doors closed at night.

I still have my leaf blower ready if necessary.