....or at least it stank.
OK, so Mr. Downeastdoingstuff goes off for a few days. This is something that has been in the works for many months and marked on his calendar. This event was not sprung upon him at the eleventh hour rendering him a frenetic valise packing fool. Oh no. He knew about it.
I had to get up at the ungodly hour of 7 A.M. to transport him to the other people that also had this occasion marked on their calendars.....for months. I didn't mind (too much)....I love him....and I know that he would get up at any time, day or night to transport me to anywhere in the world that I wanted to go.
So while I'm still bleary-eyed and semi-unconscious in bed at 6:45 A.M. he announces to me that there is a skunk in his havahart trap.
"A what?" Blink. Blink.
"A skunk. And I don't have time to do anything about it, so you are going to have to handle it."
Sensing a nervous breakdown approaching, I have a nervous breakdown.
(why, oh, why didn't he de-activate the trap the day before KNOWING he was leaving????)
sob. sob.
"WHAT?????#&%((@??"
"Yeah, but you know what to do."
(I know what to do. ) Blink. Blink.
ONLY because he has had to do it before, several times. And I've 'heard' him 'talk' about what he does. BUT, and this is a big BUT, I've never seen him do it, and I've never even operated the friggin Havahart trap. (Just the word 'trap' doesn't sit well with me. Things can go awry rapidly.)
So that's it. Off I go, good wife that I am, taking him to his destination designated in ADVANCE. Did I mention he knew he was leaving?
I drop him off, come back home armed with good intentions of taking control of the situation, and.........go back to bed.
Can't sleep. Toss. Turn. Thinking about something I shouldn't be thinking about. What are my options?
1. Do nothing. (I presume the creature will eventually go to skunk heaven, what in this heat and all....) (Heaven is supposed to be good, isn't it?) (But visions of the skunk named 'Flowers' from the movie BAMBI enter my head and this does not become an option.)
2. Have my grown son still living with us take care of it, which is the same as option #1.
3. Do 'it' myself.
So, after grumbling and pacing, I go up into the garden area to assess the situation.
Here is what I see.
Sheesh.
I KNOW first thing I have to do is to quietly cover the dang trap with a cloth of some sort. This apparently confuses the skunk and she thinks everything is ok. (Not too bright, are they?)
So I go grab an old sheet in the garage and like a professional stealthy burglar on cat paws, I slowly, carefully cover the cage and ......run like hell.
OK. Step One. Check.
Step two. Text husband. Check."Now what?", I type on my cell phone.
"Open the trap with a stick pushing the front lever.", is the response.
"&$(__&@$*&@^", I mumble.
OK, I find a stick, expose the lever, and push it.
Nothing.
Push harder.
Zippo.
Text him again. "Try harder", he instructs. (YOU try harder is what I wanted to say.)
Now I knew I had to take matters into my own hands. So I did what any intelligent person would do. GOOGLE it!!!
After 45 minutes of watching videos about different types of traps and how not to get too close because these animals have TEETH, and how you don't want to get rabies and stuff, checking out the latest recipes on www.cookinglight.com , I come to the realization that I can open the lock to the door if I have some sort of a hook apparatus. So I made one with some metal strapping, some pvc pipe and masking tape. See?
Now, if you look closely you can see a wire that's up in the air in the front of the trap. I did that. With my hook.(key smug look).
Then I took the stick and pressed down on the front lever. The door opened! And I didn't smell anything! Flower was a good girl thus far.
Yeah!!!!! I took the stick off of the lever.
The door slammed shut.
"*&^%$#^*" and "grrrrrrrrrr".
I had to think fast. How much of this ruckus was Flower going to take?
Aha. I did make a hook, didn't I?? So I opened the door again with the stick on the lever routine, took my nifty hook and latched it over the edge of the open door, laid the hook and pvc pipe handle on the top of the trap, placed a shovel over it as a counterweight and backed away.
(If you want to take notes, you can biggify the pic by clicking on it.)
Voila!!!!! Door open...... and I didn't get bitten or sprayed and it only took from 7 A.M. to 4 P.M. for the completion of the job. 9 hours. What was I going to do with myself the rest of the day? ;-/