11:30 PM tonight I stepped outside to do some star gazing. After a number of years out here I am pretty familiar with the sorts of sounds you can expect as perfectly normal, but tonight I heard something new. Something alive. Something… stinky.
A few things to note:
1) It seems that this particular window well is where stuff gets blown to when the wind picks up.
2) It seems that I need to do a bit of cleanup.
3) It seems there’s a skunk in my window well.
Little bugger must’ve fallen in and got trapped… it’s something like 3 feet deep with smooth metal walls.
Also: man, that little fellers *aggressive.* The whole time I was looking down on it (going, “Huh.”), it had its ass up in the air like it wanted to spray me, and danced around like “it’s on now, bee-yotch.” It’s a juvenile skunk, but it it has a functional stank gland… while it never sprayed up at me, it must’ve sprayed *somewhere,* because that burnt rubber nasty smell came up from time to time.
I have no well-thought-out plans on how to extract it. An active retrieval would be certain to result in chemical warfare, lacerations, harsh language and hospitalization, so the best I could do on short notice and unwillingness to get too deeply involved was to put a piece of old lumber into the well:
If it’s smart, once it stops trying to *fight* the lumber, it’ll realize that it can use it as a ladder and climb itself out.
And yes, my first thought on looking down into the well was “Oh, look, a kitty!” My second thought was “Ummm, wait…”
There’s hate in them there eyes…
UPDATE: Several hours later I went out to check on Stinky, and he/she was still there, huddled in a corner of the window well, looking miserable. Apparently “self rescue” was out of the picture. So, I found two 8 foot long 2X2’s and used them like chopsticks. Grabbed Stinky by the tail (eventually… it wasn’t easy) and simply pulled him out. No chemical attack, fortunately.