Do I Smell Something? – Skunk Update

My husband walks into the post office and the lady asks him, “Did you get sprayed by a skunk?” (Whoa!  Excuse me??  Did you just say what I think you said?)

Our room still has the faint odor of skunk so our clothes are probably absorbing that. Aghhh!  When we opened our laptop computer case yesterday the smell was strong.  Thankfully the weather has been very nice outside so we’re able to open the windows during the day.  I don’t know of any other solutions.

I’m just imagining when all 8 of us go to church and trudge down the aisle what it will be like. 🙂  We’re blissfully walking to our seats and unbeknownst to us a little black odor is following behind.  This episode with the skunk could get very memorable, not to mention downright embarrassing!

A Skunk by Any Other Name is Still a Skunk!

Settling down into my nice comfy bed, getting ready for a restful night, I heard the dog start barking.   I figured there probably was a skunk nearby since they seem to be in plentiful supply around here.

The barking continued for a while but then the bark changed slightly – making me think our dog must be really close to the animal.  It was.  Not only was she close to the wild animal, the animal was close to ME!  Probably only 5-10′ away because by now it was AT OUR HOUSE by my bedroom!!  Then it not only was at our house but UNDER our house.   The skunk broke through a screened vent we have that vents our basement crawl-space. How do we know this?  The evidence was found this morning.  A bent up vent laying on the ground.

After plunging through our vent, the skunk sprayed!! I have NEVER smelled such an abominable odor in my life.  I have smelled plenty of skunks but nothing like this.  It was the regular skunk smell but it also smelled like a mixture of tar or something burning.  Absolutely horrible.

Things were so bad I buried my face in my husband’s armpit – something I do not generally practice, as you might understand.  Not that he  smells bad but that’s just not my normal pattern – to snuggle up to his armpit. 😉  It worked very nicely – for a while – but then I needed some cool air.  Next I decided to rub some essential oil on my face.  That wasn’t as effective.   I wandered in the hallway which was the worst place of all because there was no place for the smell to dissipate, only to find Zachary stumbling out of his room with a paint mask that had side respirators on and all his bedding.  About that time the smell overcame me and I started gagging.  Every time I would quit gagging and would take in more fresh(?) 🙂 air, I’d start gagging again.  Ironically, the only clear air I could find was outside.

Serenity’s room didn’t smell too bad so that’s where Russell and I landed for the night.  Zachary slept in the walleyball court and Wesley in his closet.  When Wesley went in there with his blankets, he asked Seth if he wanted to sleep in there, too.  Seth said, “No, I’ll be fine,” but in just a few short minutes the closet door opened and in came Seth. 🙂

A search is currently being made to ascertain whether the skunk went out when the dog left or if it decided to take up residence under our house! In the meantime we’re still trying to air out our bedroom and hall.  🙂




Trip to Florida – Part III

On our last day in St. Augustine, Florida, we went to the Memorial Presbyterian Church – a church built and completed in 1890 after one year of construction.  To complete the church this quickly, workers worked 24 hours a day with two crews of 500 men.   The style is Venetian Renaissance.  Inside the church there is an Aeolian-Skinner Pipe Organ that has over 5000 pipes!  The largest pipes are 32′ tall!

Next, we visited the St. Augustine Lighthouse.  Since younger children can not go inside the lighthouse, my sister & I stayed behind with the little ones.  The tower is 165′ tall with 219 steps to reach the top.

We took the scenic route from St. Augustine to Jacksonville.  At this stop we saw dolphins (at least that’s what we think they were) several times.  It was so exciting.

The seashore is literally made up of millions of seashells.

My family.

My sister’s family that went sightseeing with us.

That night we had supper at Clark’s Fish Camp.  The place has mounts everywhere and that’s no exaggeration.  You would not find this place unless you knew about it.  You drive down quiet neighborhood streets and think you’re lost but surprise(!) you’re not.  The restaurant is at a dead-end.  All kinds of meat is served here.  Some of the foods the more adventuresome amongst us tried was frog legs, alligator meat and kangaroo.  I had the alligator, which is a white meat, and found it to be very good albeit chewy.

In Jacksonville, we went to see the Kingsley Plantation, a slave plantation that grew Sea Island cotton, sugar cane, corn, beans and potatoes.

Here Justus gets to see what it would be like to pick cotton.

Success!

The Kingsley Plantation

Slave quarters which were constructed of tabby.  Tabby is made of oyster shells which were burned and ground for lime.  This was then mixed with water and sand.  Tabby was pourable or could be made into bricks.

There was this friendly little armadillo there, too.  Interesting looking creatures aren’t they?

We then left Florida and travelled to Alabama where I got to spend a few days with a friend that I hadn’t seen in 15-18 years.  I even had a birthday while I was there.  They took us to a Japanese restaurant named Shogun where they cook the food in front of you and put on a show.  I’ve never been to anything like this and found it very enjoyable and the food very good!

I had a wonderful time traveling and was quite ready to stay longer, but since money doesn’t grow on trees yet, 😦  we had to head home.  You know what that means, right?  LAUNDRY!  I heard the mountain of laundry recently called Mt. Washmore.  🙂 I like that.  Thankfully, after a week, that mountain is no longer in sight.

Trip to Florida – Part II

After leaving Sarasota we went to Ocala where my new niece by marriage lived.  Her parents operate a print shop but not only do they make business cards and those types of things, they make Vehicle Graphics, Screen Printing on t-shirts, Banners, Embroidery on shirts, hats and other things.  We got to go on a tour of the place.  What an interesting business.

Leaving Ocala, we landed in St. Augustine.  St. Augustine has one of the oldest structures in North America – the Castillo de San Marcos.  It was built in 1672 by the Spaniards and was never taken by the enemy.

The walls are 14-19′ thick at the base and taper to 9′ at the top.

The walls are made of coquina .  Wikipedia has this to say about coquina – “The stone makes a very good material for forts, particularly those built during the period of heavy cannon use. Because of coquina’s softness, cannon balls would sink into, rather than shatter or puncture, the walls of the Castillo de San Marcos.”

Over 400,000 blocks of  conquina were used to build the fort.  You can see that a lot of the stone is sea shells.

Here’s a close-up of one section of the wall.

I was completely captivated when I saw this writing from hundreds of years ago.  No one has been able to figure out it’s meaning.  Some of the walls had pictures of ships scratched into the stone.  When I see these things, I think about the people and what things they must have felt or thought about.

My darling, Audrey.

Both my sisters and I like to cook, so when we saw there was a shop called The Spice & Tea Exchange, we took the time to drop in.  It’s in a very quaint area of town with dozens of small shops.  They are also online at  The Spice & Tea Exchange, selling a variety of spices, salts, rubs, teas, sugars, and tea supplies.

At a regular city park near our hotel, there was this carousel.  We went there for Audrey but as you can see in the picture, the older ones got in on the fun, too.

Justus reminds me of royalty with that little wave. 🙂

Part III coming soon…

Trip to Florida – Part I

After a long stint away from Treasuring the Moments due to visits from family and various and sundry happenings, I’m hoping to make an appearance more frequently.

As I write, my family and I are driving down the road  – leaving Florida and heading for Alabama.  Although Florida is known as the “sunshine state”, sunshine and warmth have been in short supply around here.

……..Well I started the above paragraph over a week ago and am just now getting back to writing.  *Smack, smack*  I must do better about posting!

The occasion of our trip to Florida was for my nephew’s wedding.  We decided to make a family trip out of it and spent a few days in St. Augustine as well as Jacksonville.  Along the way, we visited with friends in Louisiana & Alabama.

Following are some pictures of our time in Sarasota, Florida.

The kids could not get enough time swimming whether it was in the hotel’s swimming pool…

or at the Atlantic Ocean which was very cold.   Brrrr!

My two sisters and me.  Do you want to guess who’s oldest?  No, wait.  Forget I said that.  Foorrggeett I said that!  Seriously, it’s getting a little painful these days.  I’m the youngest and people are sometimes not so sure what our birth order is when looking at us.

Audrey being a good sport, but then…

an extra big wave came along. 😦  Poor thing.  She had sand everywhere.  I didn’t completely get it out of her hair for days.

That’s all for today, folks.  Stay tuned for more exciting pictures in the days to come. 😀