Saturday, July 9, 2011 :: HOUSE FOR SALE :: SKUNKS FREE!

FOR SALE: TWO-STORY HOME IN A VERY QUIET (DOWNRIGHT DESERTED) "GATED" COMMUNITY. RIVER-VIEW JUST 1 MILE IN ANY DIRECTION. ABUNDANT WILDLIFE. THE ULTIMATE "LIVE-OFF-THE-LAND" EXPERIENCE--VEGETABLES FROM THE GARDEN, THEN CLIMB THE DIKE AND GO FISHING IN THE MISSOURI RIVER! OR FRY UP SOME MOSQUITO LEGS (THEY'RE BIGGER THAN THE FROGS AROUND HERE). INCLUDED IN PURCHASE: A CASE OF INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH BUG REPELLANT AND NOSE PLUGS. (WE THINK THE SMELL FROM THE SKUNK THAT SPRAYED IN THE CRAWL SPACE UNDER THE HOUSE TODAY WILL DISSIPATE....SOMEDAY...)

Yes, you read correctly. The skunk stunk. In my crawlspace under the house. And then the air conditioner ran and got the "smell" in the filter. Now every time the AC runs, the house smells like sku-hu-unk again. We're going to pull the filter here in a minute and see if it smells and if that is the reason. It could also be just the circulation of air. Either way, this is one smelly problem. The bad news is we don't even know if the skunk died and released its scent, or if it is alive, got scared, and let it fire. Dustin thought he ought to check, but when he opened the crawl space doors to see, this is what he found:

Add to the listing above, "PRIVATE SWIMMING POOL IN BASEMENT." (It is kinda hard to see, but those boards and other un-identifiables are floating in about 3 foot of water.)

So much for checking on the skunk in the crawl space.

IF indeed it is dead, that would make 3. (We got #2 today also.) Let's just hope 3 is ALL of them. After all, 3 IS enough! :) And for all of you animal lovers that think I am just plain awful for killing skunks, sorry.  Next time I'll call you and you can come catch them, haul them to your house, and let them dig up half of your yard looking for grub worms and live (and SPRAY) in your basement. Deal?

And I'm just kidding about the whole house for sale thing. Shoot, no other place could possibly compare in the level of "excitement" this one offers!  Also, as for the whole "fishing" thing, there is NO WATER outside our dike, except for some water in the low spots from rain. Here's a look from the other day:

So, there's really no fishing off of the dike just yet. But you could walk down the road a mile to the west and fish there. If you can put up with the mosquitoes.

Decided today to get a picture of the water about a mile to the east of us. This is on the other side of Bigelow:

And although it is not as deep as to the west of us, it is definitely deep enough to kill this used-to-be-beautiful field of corn. We don't own this, but it still makes me sick.

Here's also the field just across the road from our house (and this field we DO own): (click on it for larger view)

It doesn't look too bad, except for the dead spot through the middle that is lower than the rest. Certainly not as bad as THIS field we own:

As for our house, here's a look at it from today:

See Mom everyone, we're fine, at least for today. And so very thankful. Because while many of our friends and neighbors are living elsewhere in less-than-ideal living arrangements, waiting for water to leave their homes and yards so clean-up can begin, we're just dealing with swimming-pool-basements, smelly skunks, a house that looks like I could be featured in an episode of "Hoarders", and the challenge of how to mow a squishy yard. Things could definitely be worse.