Offensive

Wednesday morning I woke up early - Not because I wanted to, but because my nose was assaulted by something akin to the smell of burning rubber. My first reaction was to blame the cat. Maybe she didn't bury something that she should have. I peeked into the litter box and Deming was cleared of any wrong doing. Walking down the stairs, I scrunched my face as the smell grew stronger. I opened the bathroom door and the same smell, but stronger this time, punched me in the face. Huh. Weird. I hollered at Adam to check it out when he woke up, then opened the door which leads to our garage. Bam. Another smell-slap.

By the time I got to work, I had concerns that:
#1: Something was wrong with my car. Perhaps a belt or something was rubbing against something else and causing a horrid stench.
or
#2: Some sort of gas was leaking into our apartment.

When I got to work, I started to think that I smelled funny as well. My co-workers (they are the best) did a sniff test, and yes, something was off. Crap. Now I was the smelly one at work and I still didn't know what the cause was.

Apartment maintenance came to the apartment to help sort out the mystery. The man took one step into our apartment and said, "Smells like skunk - you must have hit one."

Ah ha! That would make some sense - I had driven out to the airport on Tuesday night and probably ran over some roadkill. When I got home from work Wednesday night, I parked my car outside (instead of in the garage) satisfied that the problem would be solved with my car getting some fresh air. I walked to my front door and was taken aback that even with the windows having been open all day, I could still smell the offensive odor without stepping inside. Huh. Interesting.

Thursday the smell would come and go. Actually it didn't really go anywhere. It was more like it was bad and then worse. It had to subside soon, right?

Friday maintenance came by again. At this point our neighbors had complained as well. They had walked around our building looking for signs of a skunk and found nothing. Then they said, "Oh wait. What is that crevice under your porch - a skunk den?" Ah yes, a skunk den. Mr. skunk was letting off bombs at it's leisure and the smell was seeping through the entire apartment.

I woke up Saturday morning, made a cup of coffee, and decided to check out this skunk hole. Stepping outside, I first noticed the hole, then right next to it a live trap. "Cool," I thought. I leaned closer to check it out. It was mostly wrapped in black plastic (to prevent spraying, I assumed). It wasn't until I had my face 6 inches away from the trap that I noticed that something was inside of it. (Yes, I realize the fact that the trap door was closed should have been my first clue, but I hadn't had my coffee yet.) I jumped backwards and then strained to see what was inside. I saw a black and white tail. Frick. That's all I needed to see. I called maintenance and at some point today it was taken away and another trap was left in its place.

It was living in that tiny space under our stoop.

If you look closely in the red box, you can see the tip of its white tail.
I was standing on the wrong end of this animal when this picture was taken.

I hope beyond all hopes that this smell goes away before Thanksgiving. However, worst case scenario, who doesn't like to enjoy their turkey with the lingering smell of burning rubber?