I have to ask, why the obsession with people being "skunked"? You have revived this thread several times and also the one on "the other" senior forum. Are you writing a book about skunks or what?
You're just jealous because you haven't been skunked. Pretty much every night, a skunk visits my backyard, in the summer to check the yard for whatever it is that s/he digs up there, and year-round to see if there's any cat food left in the feral cat bowl. I have seen him walk past me while I was on the back porch with Ella, but he doesn't pay any attention to either me or Ella. I see the skunk and the feral cats on my cameras all the time, and they seem to have a relationship that is dominated by indifference. They ignore each other. Not a threat + Not prey + Not a potential mate = Ignore
I live about 100 feet from a wooded area and once or twice a month it is pretty rank. It reminds me of the green fog in the Movie where plague seeped into the homes of the first born Egyptians. Nothing you can do about it but bear it. When I was stationed at Alvarado I would catch guard duty on our launch area gate, a little one man shack that had a combination heater and air conditioner in the window to help you cope with the summer heat and winter snow and cold. The little post was just wide enough to stand in, after dark I would lay down with my head sticking outside the door and feet up against the wall. If you want some skunks you can find all you need in Alvarado Tx. They were so bad around the launch area the dog handlers had to be extremely careful in the perimeter fence that wrapped around the launch area. Normally they would allow the dogs to roam freely but in rutting season for the skunks they would not let the dogs out. This was a highway that was lucky to see one car a day not belonging to the people that were stationed at the small installation. There was a 12 foot fence with barbed wire on top so really there wasn't much to guard. The little guard post is still there after all these years, worn down and weathered and the heat and air was removed 52 years ago from the little station. I guess it will outlast me and that is fine with me. The radar administration and living area up the hill had a same size guard shack but it was all cinder block and had a good telephone in it. Only a handful of us knew how to use the military under ocean land line that we could call anywhere in the world. You were not listened to nor had to present any special permission to place a call thru the military operator. I once called my girlfriend that had gone with her parents to Lebanon. Her father was an aircraft crash investigator and was re-stationed from the Fort Worth office. I was heart broken for a long time after she left. I got one letter from her while I was in my first year overseas and she was going to marry a jar head that was the embassy guard. I never heard from her again and often wonder where she is today and how her life has been all these years. I know she never returned to Fort Worth because her family were all from Michigan. Life is skunk-ie sometimes.
I was thinking of putting this under the rant thread as I was recently reminded. My renter's dog , a handicapped pit bull, found a skunk on the farm. She sitll smells funny even after extensive washing of her very short hair. But a few renters back, I got a call about a very bad smell at the house. I went to investigate. We heat the farm house with gas and wanted to check to be sure. I did not smell anything when I went in and told the renter so. She said the smell is not INSIDE. It is outside. I noticed a definite skunk smell when I drove up as one had been hit down the road. I said, all I smell is skunk. She said What was I going to do about it? Uhmmmm wait a few days? She was very upset about that. This was a woman who shreiked when a grasshopper walked over her sandalled foot. She had always wanted to live in the country! or not.
We got people like your renter moving into this county, and they've figured out how to fund the right candidates for the Board of Supervisors. They need to stay away.