bye, bye skunks

Shortly after we bought our home we found many unexpected surprises...one was skunks living 10 feet from the front door. They had been nesting under a old tree stump and probably have returned every spring for years. I have plenty of experience with skunks, as a child it took years to get rid of the ones nesting under my neighbors shed (my family stills tries to forget how many times the dog and cat got sprayed). The two month process of digging everything up to put chicken wire down began and the process was made even more complicated because I hurt my back. So Leland had to dig up 10 over grown shrubs and remove the stump by himself. We are lacking a before picture, so you have to use your imagination.

Leland finishing putting the chicken wire down.

After we finished the chicken wire we place landscaping carpet down. We decided that after getting rid of poison oak and 10 shrubs...we were happy with a rock garden. The side walk at the bottom of the picture is to the front door, the front of house has a privacy wall.

Here is the almost final product. We finished laying the rock down but we did not take a final picture. In time we will add potted plants, a bird feeder, and a park bench. Our fall goal was just to make the skunks go bye, bye for good.