Prairie View

Monday, July 19, 2010

Another Skunk Story

My sister Lois, whose family just returned from a trip to Idaho, relayed a story their hosts told them. It was a skunk-in-the-house story that happened earlier in the same house in which they were staying, and the mayhem it caused made our story look tame.

This skunk entered in the fall of the year via a patio door that had been left open a few inches. Fortunately or otherwise the resident Yorkie house dog promptly spied the intruder and went ballistic. The skunk responded in kind, and sprayed everywhere. The big beautiful log house had stink-saturated upholstered furniture and carpets, along with everything else, and the family burped up skunk smell for the next day or so, even when they were away from the house.

The father in the home has hunted big game in Africa and the basement sports an Alaskan Grizzly bear hide, among many other trophies, but this game animal had first to be chased outside the house before it could be shot. The little Yorkie finally got the job done. No macho big-game heroics involved in this hunt.

Dad called his insurance company when day dawned. "Can you help us with ridding the house of a skunk smell?" he asked.

"No, we don't cover rodent damage," he was told.

"It wasn't a rodent," the dad responded. "Skunks are fur-bearing animals." That rejoinder was hastily grabbed from somewhere just as it occurred to him.

"Well, let me check," the agent said.

The insurance company came through. They sealed up the house and first sprayed it with chemicals. Then they ran an ionizer for several days. No one was to enter the house during this operation.

When they opened the place back up, the smell was entirely gone. Not even the deepest, most critical sniff could discover a hint.

If I had known such a remedy was possible, I might have rested easier during our skunk-in-the-house episode. But I still think having been able to guide the skunk safely outside was preferable to having to deal with a cleanup regimen.

The Bylers said they didn't think of checking online for help, and I don't know if they thought of praying for help. Certainly they know something about prayer, but maybe the instant drama of a ballistic Yorkie and skunk in a frenzied fight in the living room sort of clouded all rational thinking and prevented a chance to research. That and a cloud of stink so thick in the air that you could burp it afterward had to affect the brain.

I wonder if Rachel can find a lesson to share with her Romanian college students in this skunk story. Maybe it will have to focus on redemption after bondage or something like that. It's a tough way to gain mention half a country or half a world away though, and I recommend excluding skunks from the house instead.

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