Back To School!

Yesterday was the first day of school. Brandon began as a Freshman at Revere High School, Trevor began 6th grade at Revere Middle School, and Joshua began 4th grade at Bath Elementary school. Each boy is attending a new school this year. Trevor actually has to get up an hour earlier, as school begins an hour earlier for him now, and he has to take the 6:50 am bus with Brandon.
You may be wondering why I didn't blog about the boys' first day of school yesterday, as yesterday was the first day. We had a crazy beginning to our first day. I spent Tuesday evening baking blueberry muffins. Daddy is at Fort Dix this week for training, and the boys are really missing him, so, I wanted the boys to have something special on their first day of school. We have been having some beautiful weather, so I have had all the windows open, especially at night (I love that!!) Tuesday night, throughout the night, I could smell skunk in our yard. It wasn't a lingering smell that hung in the air, it just came and went throughout the night, so I knew that there was a skunk somewhere. Let me tell you that the smell of skunk, when it is in close proximity, is much more powerful and pungent than when your driving and you get a whiff of a skunk. Wednesday morning arrived, we all got up to have muffins together, and amazingly, we talked about how we smelled skunk that night - then we proceed to let Leah (our mini pincher dog) out to go potty. :( Leah didn't come back for a while, and it wasn't until we opened the door to call her in, that the pungent smell of skunk smacked us all in the face. We knew at that moment, that we had to get Leah inside. We began calling for her, almost in a panic (through all the gag reflexes we were now experiencing), when Brandon spotted her gagging, foaming at the mouth, and rolling around frantically in the grass. It took us a long time to coax her into the house. Now let me backtrack to about a year ago when Leah was sprayed by a skunk for the first time (yes this is her second time being sprayed - we thought she was smart?). The first time Leah got sprayed we didn't know what was going on. We opened the door to let her in the house and the pungent odor of skunk (which actually smells like burning rubber to the 100th degree) kicked us in the gut, and Leah ran all through the house freaking out, and getting that stinky smell everywhere. It took us, literally, days to get the odor off of her (we tried every home remedy available), and out of the house - truly a vomitrocious experience. So this time, we kinda knew what to expect. As soon as we coaxed her to the door, I immediately scooped her up and brought her into the laundry room - which has a huge wash basin sink in it. Knowing that water would only make the smell worse, as skunk stink is oil based, so, water just spreads the smell around. A de-greaser is the key to getting rid of the stink fast. I sprayed Leah with an orange based, biodegradable de-greaser and rubbed her down. Then, remembering a commercial I just saw for Dawn dish washing soap (they were advertising that wild animal specialists now use Dawn to clean the furs and feathers of animals that have been caught in oil slicks), and knowing that I had just taken advantage of a huge sale on Dawn, I asked Brandon to "Get me the Dawn dish washing soap!" As I washed Leah down with the Dawn - to help further remove the oil based skunk stink, and the de-greaser - Brandon, Trevor and Joshua had breakfast, cleaned up the kitchen, made the lunches, and proceeded to get ready to catch the bus. It took a good suddsing and rinsing but I have to say that Dawn saved the day!! I did quarantine Leah to the kitchen for the whole day - which was a huge challenge - and you can still smell the skunk smell in the garage, on the back deck, and in the laundry room (had candles lit all day!) but Leah is good to go. Today, school day #2, it is actually raining and that skunk smell is fading fast - Thank God!!



Don't let this cute picture fool you - skunks are nasty smelling vermin that dig up your yard and smell up your yard. Skunks have two scent glands near the base of their tails. Each one is surrounded by muscle tissue that can contract to spray fine yellow droplets 15 feet or more. Besides the penetrating odor, it can cause temporary blindness and nausea. Even skunks themselves cannot stand the odor. YUCK!!