A few years ago my family discovered a family of skunks living under our home! To clear a few things up, my house isn’t your everyday sort of home, it’s built from old, one-room log cabins that were used in the 1800’s and those didn’t exactly have a foundation so there are spaces you can crawl into underneath. And these skunks found one right smack underneath my home office.
This was a problem for two big reasons, the first is obvious; skunks stink. Period, the end, we all knew that, but the second problem was that I run my work from my house, and it’s a real business buster when all the clients can do at your house, is smell the surfeit of skunks nesting under their feet. I could not get rid of the pesky things! I set out the big, clunky traps, I laid bait, I did everything short of calling a professional (which I probably should have done, but as I said business wasn’t exactly booming for me) and I just gave up!
The worst part of this whole debacle wasn’t just the smell at my house, but the fact that when we (I have two daughters) would leave the house, IT WENT WITH US. I kid you not I went to church and someone complained that it smelled like skunk, I told her it was me but she brushed it off and closed the window, and it only got worse when it couldn’t air out! When she realized it was me she was so embarrassed she brought me a scented candle later, which was when I had had it. The great thing about having kids is that they never run out of energy. I picked out some classic rock and roll and we had ourselves a week long dance party, with the music blasted as high as it could go and the three of us jumping around, the intruders didn’t stand a chance. When I was sure they were gone I made a trip to Home Depot for some nice, thick cement and spent my day off sealing the hole.
My advice is this, although the dancing works, my ankles have never forgiven me and I HIGHLY suggest that, if you can, get a professional to take care of the issue before you have to explain to your friend that it is you that smells like an entire family of skunks.