David vs the skunk

OK. I'm a coward. I freely admit this. But here's some evidence to back it up.

We have a two bay garage in the house- one equiped with an electric door opener. It was around 11 pm and the electric door suddenly opened. We could hear it from above the garage where my our rooms (my mom and & I) were. We were quite startled and assumed the worst. I got my bat and started for downstairs when the door sounded again... closing. By then I'm freaking out, but then the door re-opens again.

Mom & I realized that the zapper (aka clicker, remote control) had been acting weird for a week or so and was causing the door to open and close randomly at times. I rushed out to the van to get the zapper via the front door because I am NOT going through the garage. Who knows what the hell could be in there! I opened it up figuring it was the battery. Turns out it wasn't the battery, but a broken piece of plastic inside the remote. I removed the piece and reclosed the small zapper rather easily.

While I was working on it, mind you this is now 11:30 pm or so, the door had opened and closed a half-dozen times. I closed it finally and went on with the evening. My mom, about 30 minutes later, claims she heard something downstairs in the garage. I'm not excited at all. I'm hesitant, so mom's the first one down the stairs. She slowly enters the garage and finds a SKUNK down by the doors. SHIT!

She asked me if I'd go and open the non-electric door from the outside. The skunk was closer to that door than the electric one and we were hoping he'd kindly just move along. She talked me into it and we walked outside where (refer to the first line of this post) I quickly chickened out. So while I spotted for her through the open electric door, she opened the second garage door.

She went to the van to watch for the skunk to leave and I went and got a pan and spoon to make some noise (finally something I'm good at). I crept downstairs quietly and slowly. I didn't want the potential skunk to be tipped off and chase me down with his smelly urine. I opened the garage door carefully .... and then hammered the metal spoon inside the pot wildly. ... No action, no response. Mom spotted for a skunk while I hammered away (now 12:30 am) on the pot to no avail.

Reluctantly, my mom got out of the car and closed the garage door and I closed the electric door. The skunk either left of his own accord while no one was looking or he's taken residence in our garage. We haven't heard anything since then downstairs, but that only proves that he's not moving around. The damn skunk could be asleep down there for all we know! So with little alternative, we're going to bed hoping we won't hear scratching below us. Of course, I won't be feeling at ease standing in the garage for quite some time.

I submit this story for the jury as exhibit A. I'm sorry, but I'm a whimp. I much rather be David vs Goliath than be up against a smelly skunk.

Side note... If you know a good way to get rid of or detect skunks, please pass them along.