Wow.. I'm.glad that I don't have your skunk problem. (We *do* have them in the neighborhood; I saw a couple in our yard when we first moved in, and our neighbor's dogs have gotten skunked. We do have a dog now (since late February), but no skunking. *fingers crossed*)
I'm sad to say that the - or at least, "a" - deer is definitely back. Some of the daylilies in the Back 40 (across the creek) were chomped down to the ground. On our patio, the flowers on one
Pelargonium, the foliage on one potted daylily, and all of the remaining buds on another ('Dancy Nancy', which
was in bloom
) are gone.
We're not sure at this point where the deer is coming in from. I found a trail camera on sale online, so I ordered that and am going to put it up at the suspected entry points (creek ends, chain link fence along the back property line) to see if we can catch her/him/them in the act. Since I just have the one camera, I'll have to rotate it (a week at one creek end, a week at the back hillside, a week at the other creek end). Hopefully we can figure out the entry point, and hopefully we can do something about it. (If from the creek, it will have to be more water blaster gadgets, or else adjust the ones we have. If at the chain link fence...well... we can always add something along the top, though I hate to think about that.)
Dratted deer!
(At least that camera should come in handy once the deer problem is solved (if ever). We sometimes get racoons in the side yard; before calling out the exterminator it would be helpful to confirm their presence. On the other hand, the camera will doubtless show all of the rats invading there (our neighborhood is semi-rural and Rat Haven) which is not exactly something that I want to see.)
