As if the woodchuck in the barn weren't enough excitement, I began to track a smell through the house yesterday. Very odd. Strong odor. What did I cook? Onions? Garlic? What did I leave on? What is wrong with the heat pump and oil furnace? I was able to eliminate the oil furnace as no smell was detected in that end of the house. Still...
One gets used to smells. Then one goes outside and comes back in to be hit by this odd odor again. Musky, garlic, cooking smell? And it seemed it was also outside the house as well. Ah. Confirmed by a fresh nose. Skunk.
I like skunks. J doesn't, due to having a very stupid dog as a child. Skunks are mostly dormant in the winter. J is thinking of skunk babies. I'm thinking it's a bachelor skunk. Useless point to argue. J is the one who kept a huge bag of sunflower seeds available right by the house and knew they were being eaten. J is the one who didn't fill in the mysterious large hole by the garage amongst the azaleas. And now he's talking about ammonia and mothballs. No, no and no. That's poison, as far as I'm concerned. Still, I do wish I knew if we were being visited or squatted on. It does matter...'guests, like fish, stink after 3 days.' Has it been that long? No, only 24 hours so far.
Marital Impasse.
Ok, so here's my plan. First, check woodshop for skunks. Close off woodshop and all access to seed-food preferred by musky tenant. Second, start fire in woodstove and turn off heat in house. Open doors and windows to air house because outside the smell has definitely diminished to nothing. Once the house has aired, close it up again and see if smell comes back. That implies the skunk is somehow partly in the house itself. Where mice can go, it can go, or some such nonsense. Just read that skunks are quite fond of eating mice. Yeah for the skunk. Another mouse eater. Can't say I want a family, extended or otherwise, or a harem. Can't say I want them right up against the foundation for the winter. But they're welcome to the mice.
Frog Out
