Porches & Critter Vanquishing

It is Sunday and directly after church, here's how I started my day.

A quick dip in the pool and then drying off in the sun as I listened to an audio book.

I checked out the porch this morning and I am very satisfied with the results. The problem now is that it is too nice to use.

Now I have to do some real work so I can justify returning to the pool later today.

The job: Critter Vanquishing!

The skunks have been living in this hole under the garage for several years now. I have never had the opportunity to plug the hole when I knew it was empty of skunk.

I am reasonably confident today because of the tricky thing I did with flour. I spread it in front of the hole to see if it would be disturbed by comings and goings. It has been undisturbed for a week. 

So I am going to fill it up with whatever rock & flotsam I can find.

Half an Hour Later: That went much easier than I thought it would. There were lots of chunks of cement from the old walkway that I was able to slide down into the hole. 

After that, I waited a bit to see if there would be any reaction from whatever might be living down there. There was no reaction and, more importantly, no smell.

So I continued to throw dirt and large rocks under there. I went into the garage and broke up the edge of the cement that had been lifted by tree roots and blocked the smooth opening of the door. At least now, we can squeeze in there if we ever need to. That would be on the occasions when the garage door would not open due to power failure or brokeness.

It is now a former hole and hopefully resistant to skunk digging. They are very good, tenacious diggers so it remains to be seen.

However, I am declaring the skunks evicted!

Susan has decided we need to go out and do some touch up on the porch. I have agreed because it makes my life much easier in the long run.

Back in the Fall of 2018, we had a big Russian Elm tree cut down next to the garage. That tree is the reason all the cement around the garage has heaved and lifted.

As you can see from the picture above, that tree refuses to die.

I'm going to let that little sprig continue to grow for a bit longer. I'm not convinced that it generated by the tree. It's possible a seed fell down between the stump and the bark and that is what is growing. 

My suspicion is it is the tree simply refusing to go away.