Skunk'd!

Above: The scene of the attack?

Below: Gert with her now-ironic skunk chew toy.

Last night as I was getting ready for bed, Dave yelled, with an unusual amount of urgency in his voice, "hey, could you come downstairs and help me with something?" That "something" hit me like a brick wall as I headed toward the stairway, and it was unmistakable. Skunk. In our house. Apparently Gert the Wonder Dog got into a tussle with one of our backyard woodland friends. Needless to say, the skunk won.

After a bit of research at the office this morning, it soon became apparent that several mistakes were made last night. 1) Do not bring the offending dog into the house until the situation has been resolved. Just don't do it. It could take "up to two years" for the smell to leave your house. 2) Do not give the dog a bath. That skunky smell is actually an oil. Dousing the dog in water only works the oil deeper into the offending dog's coat. 3) Do not let the dog sleep in the dog's bed. Especially when the dog's bed is your bed (or your mother-in-law's guest room bed). And for God's sake, 4) Do not allow the dog anywhere near the neatly-folded stacks and stacks of baby clothes that a pregnant lady in her very third trimester worked so hard for the last week laundering, sorting, and folding.

So Charlie and I went to Jewel tonight to purchase every ingredient for every de-skunkifying home remedy that we found on the web: hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, vinegar, coffee, cinnamon sticks, cinnamon mouthwash, and Butterfingers. (The Butterfingers were actually a stressed-out-pregnant-lady purchase, and were not part of the skunk-removal plan).

We will let you know how Operation Deskunkification progresses.