"Connie ... Ruby got skunked!"
This is not our skunk. I got the photo HERE.
Bedtime had to wait, because I now had a dog to bathe. I gathered up the ingredients for the as-if-by-magic, miraculously-effective de-skunking solution (1 quart of 3% peroxide, 1/4 cup baking soda, and 1-2 teaspoons dish detergent), but found that there was only a scant tablespoon of baking soda in the cupboard.
Plan B. In the aftermath of Daniel getting skunked in 2012 (an incident in which the magic peroxide/baking soda/dish detergent skunk solution worked perfectly), I bought and squirreled away a bottle of Nature's Miracle Skunk Odor Remover ... just in case. I was very thankful to have it.
Ruby was really stinky, and not too happy to be saturated with chilly liquid from the bottle.
Dog shampoo and skunk odor remover, left exactly as they were when I finished with them late Wednesday night.
She was even less thrilled to get shampooed and thoroughly rinsed with the hose ...
Garden hose, right where I tossed it.
... even though the water I used was warm water from the kitchen sink ... thanks to my handy-dandy hose/faucet adapter.
Hose/faucet adapter on the kitchen window sill.
It was just after 11 pm by the time I finished rinsing Ruby and rubbed her down with a towel. No more stinky skunk odor, thank goodness ... just normal, clean wet dog smell. After all of this excitement, it took a little while for us to settle down and get sleepy again. At about midnight, we tucked the dogs into their crates and headed up to bed.
Living out in the country like we do, it's not unusual for us to smell skunk on the breeze from time to time. My neighbor told me last week that he saw a mama skunk and two young ones back by our barn. I wonder if that is the same one that Ruby encountered?
I believe in being prepared ... I have written 'baking soda' on my grocery list.