Operation Skunk Be Gone, so far, so …

/ August 12, 2014

I do not want to jinx it.

The halogen light has been shining from the back porch for seven nights, flooding the area between the butterfly garden and the backyard shed, the space where our Syracuse city skunk shot its spray into Ellie B aka Dogamous Pyle at dusk eight days ago.

Saturday and Sunday, my dear wife Karen and I made two visits to Lowes to buy boards and bricks to block the space between the bottom of the shed and the ground, inches that needed to be elevated by corner cement blocks so the floor inside rises over the waters Mother Nature.

Sweat equity was poured both days to perfect Project Skunk Be Gone, and Good Neighbor Tim pitched in by donated some rock that’s gone unused in his backyard since he and his wonderful wife Lorraine took out their backyard pond.

Thanks for the hard work, Da!

Thanks for the hard work, Da!

We took the most visual care on the side that faces the fenced-off butterfly garden, above. The board may eventually get painted, come fall. Ellie B was back enjoying her yard upon completion Sunday afternoon after a week of out-front-walks-only.

Fortified up front, too.

Fortified up front, too.

The front side had been protected by a sturdy beam. We pulled that out, and I placed a smaller but equally sturdy plank I found on the short side of the shed behind it to further plug the gap, then replaced the big beam. The board at right keeps Ellie B from wandering between the shed and the fence and getting stuck in the eight-inch space between shed and fence in the back.

There was enough room for a board to plug the gap and blocks to hold it in place.

There was enough room for a board to plug the gap and blocks to hold it in place.

Working both sides of the back of the shed, we were able to place the board in front of the gap, and blocks at both ends to hold it in place. I also wiggled in some skinny slate rock as far as my arm could reach.

We call this the far side, or the side of the shed nobody sees.

We call this the far side, or the side of the shed nobody sees.

On the far side of the shed, I had enough room to maneuver the board and extra planks on the somewhat uneven ground. I just couldn’t stand up, or I’d conk my head on the shed ledge.

I had enough clearance working in a squat to place enough sets of blocks to hold everything firmly in place. This also became the spot to store our extension ladder and five-foot ladder. Better to fill the space, I figured.

The burrow holes behind the back fence are now filled.

The burrow holes behind the back fence are now filled.

Karen made the discovery of the day Saturday while searching for burrow holes.

Behind our back fence and the chain link fence of our backyard neighbor — a space of less than a foot — she spotted through dirt and old leaves several holes apparently left behind by our old visitor the gopher.

It looked as if that’s how that since-trapped furry would wiggle its way under the shed. Perhaps that’s been the skunk’s entrance point since, too.

No longer.

Tim heard Karen’s excitement about finding the holes, and offered the solution of filling the space with the rocks he no longer uses, or needs stacked in their backyard.

The rocks won't let the skunk go underground or under the fence.

The rocks won’t let the skunk go underground or under the fence.

I pulled them over in our wheelbarrow and patiently tossed them, one by one, between our fence and the neighbor’s fence. Three wheelbarrow’s worth, in fact, until the three of us were convinced that they’d sunk into the holes and left no room for the skunk to use that route again.

The first few days of using the light, I still smelled the scent of skunk every night. Ellie B still circled the shed sniffing when we carefully let her out, leash attacked for easy gripping and pull-back, during broad daylight hours.

Not since the board-and-brick segment of Operation Skunk Be Gone.

Knock on that wood.

What’s the biggest backyard project you’ve come up with in an attempt to keep something out? What would you like to build out of brick in your backyard, and how many days do you think it would take to build it? How many rocks do you estimate that I pitched between the two fences? (Winner gets … ha! I didn’t count, whadaya think, I’m nuts?)

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38 thoughts on “Operation Skunk Be Gone, so far, so …”

  1. I have similar suburban woes. I’m fighting a mole infestation. Life was so much easier when I lived in an apartment. Plumbing problem? Electrical? Call the superintendent and if it’s not too severe, it’s fixed by the time I get home from work. Now look at us. Pitching rocks. What happened?

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    • The DIY approach is so much simpler when it applies to young people making demo CDs, My home fixing routine is, Karen and I look at it, ditz with it, sometimes fix it (yes!) sometimes still have to call in the experts and shell out big time. Yeah, pitching rocks. What a sweaty weekend.

      Moles! Are they digging up your whole yard? If I remember correctly, those humps are huge! Oh, crap.

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  2. I would like to build a barbecue pit like they did on The Lucy Desi Comedy Hour a their house in CT. Which is funny, because I don’t eat barbecued food. 😉 It sounds like you have taken wise measures against the skunk. Of course, if he’s moved over to Tim’s yard, he might want his rocks back. My guess is 72. 🙂

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  3. You have had one busy season with the woodchuck trying to call your backyard his home … then the skunk who staked out a sweet spot near your shed. Just be thankful you don’t have bear, gators and bobcats visiting. They’ve done it in my neck of the woods. But, very fortunately, not in my backyard. Great work, Mark. Karen, too. Also Good Neighbor Tim. 😉

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  5. I really liked the way you described all the steps and extra work you went to, in order to prevent any more invasions of animals, Mark! Glad you had help and extra rocks from your neighbor, you are quite a team! Ellie B. looks like she worked hard, along side of you guys! I have enjoyed making rock gardens and other nice things in back yards in the past. My son uses chicken wire at the bottom of his 5 foot (?) not sure how high his privacy fence is, Mark. But his two dogs tend to like digging escape routes. The funniest thing about those two was they decided to play with the watermelons last year, how they broke open the first one and found that sweet nectar and yummy insides, we may never know! Needless to say, they had bad results from this silly escapade! My son did not choose to plant watermelons in his garden this year!

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  8. A Dios Mio, Mark! I am sweating just reading this. POOR Ellie B! Enough is enough. That is some hard work there and it better be enough to stop Skunky or any other pest that decides to bother y’all again.

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  10. Good job Mark. The stones down the side look very attractive – like they were designed to be there. i’m trying to recall if i’ve ever consructed such a masterpiece. I think not. Ha! Critters be gone.

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  12. First Chuck Rodent and now such malice towards Pepe Le Pew. Have you no love for your childhood icons? Evicting them from their lovely homes??? It now looks like you renovated it into a great home for snakes what with the loose randomly piles rocks.

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  13. this is so funny and what a major operation, like a pentagon plan, executed perfectly with precision like clarity and man/woman power. the ultimate example of ‘boots on the ground.’ and as a bonus you’ve created something useful and bonded with your good neighbor once again. the enemies have been denied! (critters of all sorts)

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