{"id":14558,"date":"2013-05-01T08:00:41","date_gmt":"2013-05-01T14:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/?p=14558"},"modified":"2013-05-01T11:13:49","modified_gmt":"2013-05-01T17:13:49","slug":"helpless-female-finds-skunk-in-backyard-but-not-before-the-dog-does","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/helpless-female-finds-skunk-in-backyard-but-not-before-the-dog-does\/","title":{"rendered":"Helpless Female Finds Skunk in Backyard But Not Before the Dog Does"},"content":{"rendered":"

I had<\/strong> my first ever skunk encounter recently. \u00a0It came in stages. \u00a0The first stage was an unidentifiable smell of burning tires on the dog, Kiwi. \u00a0She is a backyard dog, who thinks the fence is there to protect her from strangers. \u00a0She tends to stand back when gates are opened, like they might suck her out into the great unknown. \u00a0She has only occasionally gone into the front unsupervised. \u00a0I get the impression that the gate had accidentally been open so long that she felt tricked into going beyond her borders. \u00a0She always runs back with relief when I call. \u00a0All this to say, it didn’t occur to me that there might be a skunk in my backyard; plus, she was not showing any signs of distress.<\/p>\n

I didn’t exactly panic at stage 2, <\/strong>when I discovered the skunk in an abandoned live animal trap sitting around in our backyard.\u00a0but I feel I may have expressed some excitement in cartoonish ways. \u00a0I think I threw up my hands, ran into the house, and started exclaiming loudly. \u00a0My dad helped me euthanize the skunk<\/a> in a manner that would not have occurred to me. \u00a0I am very thankful for that. \u00a0He also told me and my girls a story of how he, my mom, and I as an infant (the first little baby they had)<\/em> almost got asphyxiated by carbon monoxide in the middle of the night many years ago. They were trying to cook a turkey in a gas oven overnight, and woke up nauseated. \u00a0It is pretty amazing that I, at that tender young age, did not suffer any ill effects from that. \u00a0Or, he says, with a teasing twinkle in his eyes, they “haven’t really noticed anything in particular over the years…”<\/em><\/p>\n

Stage 3<\/strong> of the encounter came close to bedtime, as I began to struggle with the fact that the smell on the dog was rather intense and she always sleeps next to my bed. \u00a0My girls, taking pity on me in my post-skunk downward spiral, helped me do some research about possible remedies. \u00a0The most common suggestion was some mix of hydrogen peroxide and baking soda and some dish soap.<\/p>\n

So, I put in a bucket:<\/strong><\/p>\n