Good news and bad news

We are up at our Laurium house for the next two weeks. I love being up here, with a few exceptions. One is the basement. I haven't been down there since we walked through with the realtor and I hope to keep it that way. To say it's creepy is putting it mildly. Another thing is taking the dog out at night. It is pitch black in the backyard and there is no outside light on the back step. The sun doesn't set until after 10:00, so if I take the dog out at 10, I can still see. Tonight I was busy watching a movie so I didn't get her outside until after 11:00. 

Copper isn't crazy about how dark it is either. She usually does her business in the small part of the yard that is illuminated from the kitchen window. She did exactly that and started heading back toward the deck steps when she and I heard a noise. 

What happened next was pretty chaotic. As soon as I saw the skunk stepping out of the shadows, I sprinted up the steps and yelled frantically for her to come with me. But I didn't have her leash locked so easily pulled more length out as she headed off to meet the skunk (Copper is always anxious to meet new friends).  I still don't know how I got her to change directions but she did come up on the deck. But her leash had gotten tangled all around the deck posts and in my haste, I couldn't get it untangled. 

Judging by where Copper was looking, I was pretty sure the skunk was still headed in our direction. So I unclipped her leash, dragged her inside, and slammed the door.

Bill was in the living room, watching a movie ('The Sixth Sense'....seriously? I wouldn't be able to sleep if I watched that right before bedtime). I told him I had good news and bad news. The good news is that the dog was not sprayed by a skunk. The bad news is her leash is somewhere in the back yard. He told me to go ahead and leave it out there. He'll look for it in the morning. 

Up until last October, we had a small shed in the backyard. We knew there was a family of skunks living under it. We thought they would go away once the shed was gone. Apparently not. Now I have 12 more nights to avoid this (revenge-seeking?) skunk. Lovely.