Unsatisfying Skunk Trapping

It appears that we still have unwelcome smelly guests under the Carriage House. I blocked the entrances pretty darn well last night and it looks like they managed to squeeze through one little opening. It's hard to tell that it was disturbed. There wasn't much movement of the rocks I placed. I'm thinking therefore that it is a young skunk...still pretty small, like the second one I caught yesterday.

Tonight I will construct some major blockage and see what happens.

The traps I set were not touched. All the hot dogs I set out were uneaten. They probably need a day or two to forget the trauma of seeing their family members trapped. Then they will be back for a meal.

Back in the Internet Saddle Again

I am pleased to announce that I am back on-line @ homedotcom. It has been two months since I switched over to DSL and I have not been able to access the internet in that time.

I had to replace the phone line. I had to disconnect some other stuff. But it essentially involved my being a lazy-ass. I finally got around to calling my internet service tonight and they very helpfully and professionally guided back onto the super highway of knowledge and mis-information.

It's great to be back!

Skunks, Punks & Blowing Chunks

Other than skunks, the title has nothing to do with today's subject. I just loved the rhythmic flow.

I trapped two more skunks over the night. These are skunks number four and five but they are the first to both be trapped on the same evening. My guess from the looks of them is that it was a mother and a youngun. That means a whole new family moved in after the last three were removed. I gotta get that thing buttoned up. From here on out, skunks get trapped with hot dogs. That appears to be my best bait.

The catch and release went quite smoothly. I got up at five to check the traps. I was thrilled to gaze through the darkness at sprung traps. It was an awful lot darker today than in the past but that may have worked to my advantage. They couldn't see me as well as so couldn't spray me.

The only question now is, how many more are under there? I will try again tonight and see what we get.

Speaking of under there, I would like to focus on "there". "There", of course is the Carriage House. Great progress was made yesterday as seen in the following photographs.We are quite thrilled with the outcome so far. The doors will eventually be burgundy like the beams above. The trim will be cream and we will accent it here and there with the burgundy. It has taken our painter weeks of prep to get to this point. It took her an hour and a half to paint this side of the building.

She still has some prep work to do on the other three sides but we are getting close to completion with this project. Good thing too because it is cooling off and turning into winter.

Not immediately though. The forecast for the next few days calls for warm and sunny. It's about 75 degrees right now. This means that we have a shot of breaking our Furnace Record. October third is the date to beat. Five days to go!

With just over a month to go, the Halloween Hoarding has begun. We are about half way to our Full Size Candy Bar Quota (300) and about two thirds of the way to our Fun Size Quota. (400 and up)

The picture above does not do justice to our current cache of chocolaty sweetness.

Friday Night in the 50's

Last Friday night, Susan and I went to a Mystery Murder Dinner. It was held at the Corbin Senior Center, an old church down the road from us where much Senior and Neighborhood Activity transpire. Susan was very excited about this event. It was to be about a murder based in the 50's and they offered "Prizes for Costumes". It said that in the flyer. The flyer also led us to believe that it would be a Barbeque in the parking lot and then the murder would take place.

We both enjoy the dress up so we planned our costumes. Susan bought a poodle skirt and even sewed a new blouse with a Peter Pan collar. I wore jeans, biker boots, white t-shirt, leather jacket, sun glasses and a big poophy Elvis wig. We looked like the Cats Meow.

Because it was at a Senior Center, dinner was set for 5:00. We arrived a bit after five and found no barbeque going on in the parking lot. We walked around to the front and into the main hall crowded with people...none of whom chose to dress up.

We ended up winning $25.00 by default.

The Thermostat Game

The days are fast approaching for the start of the new season of "The Thermostat Game"!

As you will recall, "The Thermostat Game" involves the exploration of seeing how long into the season I can go without turning on the furnace, an ancient behemoth nestled deep in the bowels of the house. This gas-fired boiler looks more like a small locomotive than the heart of our overall total warmth & warming plan.

In 2006, the debut season for "The Thermostat Game", we made it to September 16th.

Last year, we got into the third day of October before we caved in.

So right now, we are closing in on midway betwixt the two. You can feel the excitement building.

Out with the Skunks, In with the Hedge Toads

Something else has moved under the Carriage House. I blocked the openings last night and they were opened up this morning. I assume it is a skunk since that's what I had under there before. But, it could be raccoons, rabbits, weasels, weavals, feral cats, or Hedge Toads. Whatever it is, it was not attracted to either of the two traps I set last night. Of course, I don't think Hedge Toads would be interested in cat food.

I'll just keep setting the traps until I get something.

In the meantime, we are proceeding with plans to put down paver bricks in the area of the skunk holes. Whatever is under there has a few days left before we start blocking them in. That should smell flagrantly fragrant, a decomposing family of dead Hedge Toads.

The Death of Ella's

Summer has been sticking around. The weather has been great and it looks to maintain its greatness for a few more days.

We attended a sad memorial on Sunday for a local nightclub we have liked but not gone to enough. They auctioned off everything from CenterStage and Ella's Supper Club. It was a very cool place where they did a lot of dinner theatre. It was never well attended and they finally closed in August.

The Theatre and Jazz Club were located in an old building downtown. They had lots of cool old furniture in the place. Even though we don't need any furniture, we decided to go check out one last time. We ended up buying a fog machine which will be very cool for the yard for Halloween.

A Variety of Items

I have many items to bring up today. Here is the outline.

First, my lawn sucks.

B) I am a Neighborhood Organizer!

Lastly, I am being inundated with unwelcome advertising.

Let's start with the lawn.
This is Hector, my Lawn Boy. Hector doesn't like it when I call him my Lawn Boy but that's tough. Hector mowed yesterday. He's had a pretty easy summer on my lawn because it's in such bad shape that it hardly grows. He'll probably have to mow once more this season and then that will be it.

Hector often complains about how dirty he gets when he mows my lawn. When he dumps the grass, there is a great deal of dust and it wafts over him. There is a great deal of dust because it appears that dust makes up a good portion of my lawn.

There are something like 28 designated neighborhoods in the City of Spokane and each of those neighborhoods has a Neighborhood Council. I started attending the monthly meetings of the Emerson-Garfield neighborhood when we moved in. I wanted to know what was going on in the area.

My participation has blossomed into a position on the Council. I am the Vice-Chairman. I am currently into my second year as Vice Chairman.

The job of the Vice-Chairman as defined by how I have done the job is to do nothing. Attend an occasional meeting. Actually lead one. Beyond that, I haven't really contributed much other than showing up...and that's three quarters of the battle.

Next May, they will be asking me to be Chairman and I might decide to do it. But only for one year. By then, the Mayor's race will be starting up and I'll be ready to run for that. Or Vice President.

I must say that I am embarrassed by our sign. I work for a sign company and we have a council sign that was done by a Fourth Grader. I'm going to wrangle a donation out of my boss.

Finally, the radio in my car has a feature that displays the song being played over certain FM Radio stations. One station, "Bob FM", has gone a step further. In addition to displaying the station and the song playing, it also let's me know that there is a Fall Tire Sale going on NOW at Les Schwab.While I must admit that I find it a very clever way to hit me with another bit of advertising, I also find it unseemly and Orwellean. Soon, they will be beaming stuff right into my head.

Yeah, like they aren't doing that already!

Carriage House Painting Project

Time is running out for this season as far as painting things outside goes. Our painter has had several issues in her life that has kept her from working on the Carriage House. She is now back for the most part and really trying to get things completed.

She is right in the middle of the worst part of the job. She has already power washed the whole building. Now she is scraping and then painting on the primer as she goes.

She made good progress yesterday and since nothing else is happening around the house, I thought I would highlight it here.

We had a small stumpfire last night. Not only did the stump get burned down a little more but we managed to burn some debris in the yard.

We continue in the Skunk Free Zone. I don't notice any big difference without them except that they hole is not appearing every morning. Beyond that, they never really bothered me that much.

That is not to say that I'm sad they are gone or I regret re-locating them. They were never that destructive or much of a nuisance...at least to me. My neighbors may have a different opinion.

Still No Skunk

The skunk hole and the area around it are still undisturbed as of this morning. I am really beginning to believe we got em.

Skunk Free Zone

The evidence tells me that I have removed the last skunk. The hole was not unburied this morning.

We caught what I assume to be the last skunk yesterday...and he was a hand full. Perhaps I should say he was a nose full.

I got up early to check the traps I had set. I set them every night of this Labor Day weekend but I only got lucky on Monday. We had a skunk. He was very active, routing around in the cage and trying to dig out. Good luck with that, bud!

Susan got up to watch the festivities. As I approached the trap with the tarp spread in front of me for protection, he sprayed. I have never actually seen a skunk spray before. It was not like a cat with a focused stream. It was a big glob of yellow goo that didn't go too far. It didn't have to hit me for me to smell it. It was bad.

I got the tarp over the trap and carried it to the truck. That was all pretty uneventful. He might have sprayed again. By then, it didn't really matter as the whole area was enveloped in odious olfactory sensations to bewitch and beguile.

We drove him out to the release spot, opened the door and he was gone. There was no waiting period like with the others. Hopefully, he will reunite with his brethren and the will live long, happy, smelly lives out in the wild.

In the meantime, the trap is sitting in a garbage can full of bleach water. It does not seem to be taking the smell away.