There's a peculiar odor in the evening wafting through Land Park, and I'll be the first to tell you that's it's trouble with a capital T -- that rhymes with P and stands for pot. Well, not really. But a friend of mine walked out on my back porch, sniffed and exclaimed loud enough for my neighbors to hear, "Who's smoking pot around here?" Not that I really have any first-hand evidence of that smell, mind you, but I have seen with my own two little eyes what is causing it.

It's skunks!skunks in land park sacramento

Now, if I was Barbara Duncan in Searcy, Arkansas, I would have a real photograph to show you, but I see these critters only in the dark. Here is a photo to the right that I did not take but is a close enough resemblance.

We had episodes a few years ago when the skunk problem in Land Park was out of control. Unfortunately, the lovely lingering odor is back.

Every night around dusk and in the early morning hours, I spot those critters with the white stripes down their backs scurrying down my drive, heading for a hole under my back-yard deck. I have plugged up the hole, but those darn rats with a bushy tail keep digging it back out.

skunk foot prints in land parkThere is more than one because I've tracked their footprints across my back deck. Here is a photo I shot to the left. What does that look like to you? It looks like long claws attached to little skunk feet to me.

I am going to fight back. No, I'm not sending my husband into the yard with a BB gun. Although the thought did cross my mind, but we don't own a BB gun, and I'm not certain he's a good shot. He might hit a neighboring cat or his own car. Let's just say we're not hunters in this household.

There's only one sure way to get rid of the skunks in Land Park. Call Animal Control. For $20, they'll send out a representative with a skunk trap to capture the little critters. It's a humane trap, so it doesn't kill them. Of course, what they do with the skunk after they come to retrieve it, well, I don't really want to know.

If you have a problem with skunks in your yard, call the City of Sacramento at 3-1-1 or email: 311@cityofsacramento.org

Elizabeth Weintraub Land Park Real Estate Agent in Sacramento

The Short Sale Savior, by Elizabeth Weintraub, coming June 2009.

Photos: Skunk prints, Elizabeth Weintraub; skunk, Big Stock Photo

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Elizabeth Weintraub is an author, home buying columnist for About.com, a Land Park resident, and a Land Park real estate agent who specializes in older, classic homes in Land Park, Curtis Park, Midtown and East Sacramento. Weintraub is also a Sacramento Short Sale agent who lists and successfully sells short sales throughout the four-county Sacramento area. Call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. Put 35 years of real estate experience to work for you. Broker-Associate at Lyon Real Estate. DRE License # 00697006.

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Lyon Real Estate is not associated with the government, and our service is not approved by the government or your lender. Even if you accept this offer and use our service, your lender may not agree to change your loan. Photo: Unless otherwise noted in this blog, the photo is copyrighted by Big Stock Photo and used with permission.The views expressed herein are Weintraub's personal views and do not reflect the views of Lyon Real Estate. Disclaimer: If this post contains a listing, information is deemed reliable as of the date it was written. After that date, the listing may be sold, listed by another brokerage, canceled, pending or taken temporarily off the market, and the price could change without notice. It could blow up, explode or vanish. To find out the present status of any listing, please go to elizabethweintraub.com.

 

 
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17 Comments on What's Black and White and Running Through Land Park?

FEB
20
2009
565,047 Points 38 Featured Posts Localism Sponsor Outside Blog Attended Rain Camp Called Shot Master

Oh my word.... what a unique way to be under siege. That's priceless in a stinky sort of way (LOL). I've seen your yard and can understand why they like it. It's beautiful. Very comfy, indeed. :-)
9:12am • #1
256,188 Points Outside Blog

Elizabeth - That's funny that you and Barbara are both having problems with skunks!  They sure are cute, too bad they smell so bad...   :)
9:33am • #2
596,136 Points 70 Featured Posts Outside Blog Called Shot Master

EEEWWWEEE!!!  GROSS!  Although we don't have skunks around here, we do have our fair share of wildlife mostly just rabbits, gophers (and big suckers) and, of course, the coyotes.
9:37am • #3
1,518,027 Points 112 Featured Posts Localism Sponsor Outside Blog Called Shot Master

Elizabeth:  One of my good friends has a brother who does pest removal.  They usually relocate these furry critters to heavily wooded areas, away from densely populated neighborhoods.  Good luck.
10:08am • #4
338,910 Points 49 Featured Posts Outside Blog

LOL....I've only smelled that before when driving by the side of the road type skunk. It's definitely a distinct odor and glad I don't have any of them lingering around. YUK!
10:18am • #5
1,261,190 Points 2 Featured Posts Outside Blog Hit Router

Elizabeth

People still smoke those marijuana cigarettes? I did not know that they smelled like a skunk. I do know what a skunk smells like; I have had to get those out of my barn when I would get new chicks. That was not a pleasant thing. I can understand the "madness" your neighbor must be going through with the smell.

Sincerely

Tom Braatz
11:22am • #6
1 Featured Post

Elizabeth, skunk smell has to be one of the worst and most pervasive odors on the planet!  On one hand, it's funny, since they're such cute looking critters.  But on the other hand, they are NOT to be tangled with!   ;-)   Good luck with the siege!   LOL
12:24pm • #7
Attended Rain Camp

Ewwwww!  We just have deer, fox and turkey vultures here !  The vultures are ugly enough! 
1:33pm • #8
606,526 Points 71 Featured Posts Localism Sponsor Outside Blog Attended Rain Camp Called Shot Master

He might hit a neighboring cat

HAHAHAHAHAHAH !!!!!

We get Skunkies all the time in NJ... it's amazing how far that stink will stretch, and how it works its way through windows and doors and cracks into your house !!!

Well good luck -- I suggest you dont consider petting them, even though they look fluffy and harmless

2:41pm • #9
1,116,081 Points 101 Featured Posts Outside Blog Attended Rain Camp Called Shot Master

Well if I lived closer I'd send over my husband.  He's the one on the far right.  And He is holding his trophy for shooting.  He has guns and wouldn't hit the neighbors cat or your husband's car.  Before we were dog owners he had to get moles and armadillos out of our yard and garden.

He is about to become handy after years in training, but as a former Army MP, he was great with guns from the time I met him.  Hopefully the pest folks will catch those stinky little critters for you quickly.  They will certainly stink up a place if something frightens them.
2:49pm • #10
569,437 Points 1 Featured Post Localism Sponsor Outside Blog Attended Rain Camp

We had the problem at the golf course and the greens keeper indicated they were there because of the grubs under the grass and if he got rid of the grubs the skunks would leave. I haven't seen them for some time I wonder if that's the cure?
7:12pm • #11
1,210,622 Points 118 Featured Posts Outside Blog Attended Rain Camp Called Shot Master

Elizabeth,

I used to see them in New York, but never here, even though I read tht they are here. Maybe our alligators are taking care of this potential problem.

Need one?
7:43pm • #12
644,874 Points 15 Featured Posts Localism Sponsor Outside Blog

Elizabeth, I'm sitting here laughing my _ _ _ off because you now have the nocturnal visitors also.  Want me to send you my trap???  Remember you made my daughter cry because you told her the animal control would take them off and KILL them???   They really just take them off and turn them loose somewhere else and I ordered mine delivered to Sacramento!   LOL    Really LOL!!
8:58pm • #13
813,093 Points 243 Featured Posts Localism Sponsor Attended Rain Camp Called Shot Master

Poor Peppi. He just wants to be loved.
11:00pm • #14
FEB
21
2009
243,940 Points 18 Featured Posts Localism Sponsor Outside Blog

Hey Elizabeth!
I live close to Cal..only the other side of Land Park Drive...and haven't noticed the odor! How close are you?  I did notice a skunk (road kill - not alive) on the 16th Street onramp to the freeway. I hope they aren't migrating my way!
12:02am • #15
379,543 Points 2 Featured Posts Outside Blog

Have some tomato juice handy for when he gets sprayed. Goog luck, LOL
10:29am • #16
984,179 Points 106 Featured Posts Localism Sponsor Outside Blog

There's never a dull moment in Land Park. Just moments ago, some guy or woman in a blue Saturn swerved around the corner and slammed into a parked car, crushing the driver's side. I was talking on my cell to a client and staring out the living room window when I saw the accident. He/she pulled up in front of my house, stopped, looked at me, looked back at the bumper he/she left glued to the car he/she hit, gunned the gas and roared off down the street.

Whaaaat? The water heater isn't strapped, sorry . . .

I quickly finished my call and called the police. They found the car within 10 minutes, but I don't know if they found the driver. We Land Park residents look out for each other. This stuff happens everywhere in Sacramento.

I'd gladly deal with a skunk today than some hit-and-run driver. The woman whose car was hit came to visit her mom and didn't expect this, I'm sure.

Elizabeth Weintraub Land Park Real Estate Agent in Sacramento
2:50pm • #17

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Elizabeth Weintraub, Sacramento Short Sale Agent, Land Park, East Sac, Lyon RE

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Broker-Associate at Lyon Real Estate, midtown Sacramento. Selling since 1974. Home Buying Guide at About.com. Sacramento short sale agent.
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Author Bio: Elizabeth Weintraub is a Sacramento real estate broker, author, home buying guide for About.com, a Land Park resident, and a Land Park agent who specializes in older, classic homes in Land Park, Curtis Park, Midtown and East Sacramento. Weintraub is also a Sacramento Short Sale agent who lists and successfully closes short sales throughout Sacramento four-county area. Call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. Put 35 years of real estate experience to work for you.

 


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