I didn't want to post the skunk follow-up story, but I feel obligated. Otherwise you'll all be left wondering what happened.
Apparently skunks who squawk tend to be pretty much rabid. :-(
The next morning we woke up and we had a pretty sick skunker in our side yard. It was one of those situations where you instantly knew something was dreadfully wrong, just by looking at him. This poor fellow was not in a happy place, so, as I fed Elizabeth her morning bottle, I asked Brian to call the rabies hotline.
I heard Brian's side of the conversation: Yep. Mmmmhmmm. No - I don't have one - ahhhh. OK. Yes, we can do that. Ok. Bye.
Brian hung up and told me what the rabies hotline folks told him: "Yep. Sounds like you got a hot one. You need to shoot it, bury it and pour bleach on it."
My mouth hung open in utter disbelief and I softly informed Brian, "Over. My. Dead. Stinking. Body."
Because the thought of Brian with a gun is FAR more scary than Brian with a welding torch. Not to mention that all the neighborhood doggies around here really like digging up dead stuff, rolling in it, then dragging it home to their families as a gift. The thought of a rabid animal in my backyard - even DEAD, BURIED, and BLEACHED - was not an acceptable one.
"Give me the phone." I requested of Brian and handed kiddo off to him.
I called Ranger Rick and told him that there was no way I was letting my husband go out and play Rabies Roulette with Mr. Skunk. He told me that it's too bad we didn't live in the village, 'cuz the cops would come out and shoot it for me.
I explained it was not an issue of shooting or getting sprayed or whether or not there are green beans on Mars. It was an issue of a RABID ANIMAL in my yard, that I wanted NOT to be there anymore!
So he gave me the name of a guy who "handles" this sort of thing, and he explained that it would cost a bit of money. I didn't care. I like my family without rabies on the side, thankyouverymuch.
In the end, a very nice gentleman came out and took care of the situation very humanely and very affordably. I was really sad that our little skunk had contracted this horrible disease, but very grateful that the whole mess didn't have a much worse outcome.
Peace, till next