our little visitor

So.  One Saturday I spent the entire day cleaning out our garage.

Yes.  It sounds like it should be a job for the man-of-the-house, but I'll be honest,

it was my mess.

And by the end of the day, I was wiped.

(I'm telling you, it was bad.)

But boy was I excited to see how clean it was.  I had even sprayed it all out with hose which left it a little, well, wet.  And then we got a nice big rain shower that night that beat down on our garage...

So when we came back home from church on Sunday just before noon, I left the garage door open to help it dry up and air out.

Seemed like a fine idea.

That is until the next morning.

It was about 7:30ish and I was dragging myself out of bed to help Marryn get ready for school.  Joey yells down that the trash truck was coming (Monday is trash day, but it usually doesn't come this early).  So I head out to my very freshly cleaned garage and find a ripped garbage bag (we usually only fill our trash half-way, but because of all the cleaning, I had filled it and when we took out our kitchen trash the night before, I just set it to the side as not to leave the trash can open {= smelly}).  But not thinking too much of it, I just gathered the trash and recycling and set it out.  

As I was walking back up our driveway, I then noticed our bag of potting soil all over.  And a bunch of boards that I had placed ever so neatly knocked over.  And what is that yellow stuff...?

Then it hit me.

Remember last night when I opened the door to throw out a diaper and I thought, hmmm, that smells funny...

And remember how around midnight I got up about three times checking on the kids, looking outside, flipping on porch lights because I kept *hearing* something...

Yep, we've got an animal.

So after taking Marryn to school, Joe came back and we started pulling things away from the walls.  It didn't take long before we found it.

Hiding under the steps that go into the house.

First thoughts.

Racoon.

So Joe gets on the phone.  Calls 3 different people. 

One says, racoons are dangerous.  Keep the kids away.  We'll call you back when we can come.

Another, after mentioning the black and white fur we can now see peeking out, says skunk.

He was right. 

And he was the first to arrive.

An hour later.

So Joe spent the morning in the garage, keeping watch over our little visitor.

When the *animal remover* came, he sprayed some stuff to knock it out and then picked it up and away they went.  Along with a check for $55. 

So no, that little guy is not dead.

Although Joey wished it was.  

And people think he's a vegan because he loves animals...ha!

But before he left, we brought Reganne and Christian out and took some pictures.

Most likely the closest we will ever be to a skunk.

We hope.

And the smell, no it didn't spray.  Just peed and pooped all under our stairs.  So gross.

But it's all clean and sanitary now, thanks to another day spent cleaning.

PS - Joe here.  Look, I didn't really want the skunk dead, but I really wasn't to happy with it...maybe just put it in one of those hamster wheels and make it run for a while.