Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Tomato Juice, Anyone?

This is Kurt, our maintenance man, hard at work this morning:


I got to work this morning to find the boss-folk not tucked away in their offices, but standing outside in the parking lot. Wayyyyyyy outside in the parking lot, near the street. Curious. I walked on in, contemplating: Parking lot stripes? Landscaping to come?

I opened the door into the building then, and BAM!!!


Apparently the boss got sprayed by a skunk this morning. There's a patch of woodland behind the building, in which our company garden is planted. Bossman didn't think he'd been hit, but it was apparent once he got inside that he's now a human stinkbomb.

Meanwhile, our building reeks. Every door and window is open and every fan this company owns is running—including the restroom fans. I kid you not, the boss left an hour ago and still there are complaints of throats and eyes burning. This is serious, folks!

And funny. Why is stink funny?! We are going to laugh at this at happy hours for years to come.

Back to the serious. I looked up "get rid of skunk scent" on the 'net, and woe is us, it seems like it's virtually impossible. Seems tomato juice only works on the Brady Bunch episode. Lemon juice? No.

There's a "recipe" on the Cooperative Extension website that has mixed results:
  • 1 quart 3% hydrogen peroxide
  • 1/4 cup of baking soda (sodium bicarbonate)
  • and a teaspoon of liquid detergent.
It's followed by a warning, though: Never mix the ingredients in advance as the oxygen in the hydrogen peroxide may be released, causing the container to explode.

Oh, and skunk scent can be re-activated during periods of high humidity, I learned.

90 minutes into the day and I've experienced something new and I'm more knowledgeable than I was when I woke up.

Do YOU have any more skunk facts or experiences to share?

I'm going to go stand by the window while I wait for your response.




*Addendum, and important skunk fact: Wendy has pointed out that tomato juice worked on the Patridge Family, and not the Brady Bunch. My bad.

14 comments:

  1. Anonymous8:55 AM

    Wasn't that a Partridge Family episode? The skunk got on the bus and they bathed with tomato juice before the concert?

    Note: I still have my Partridge Family records.

    I hope it smells better there soon!

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  2. Oh, oh, oh you're RIGHT! It WAS the Partridge Family! Well, at least the Brady's had Davy Jones.

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  3. I've never tried it but have heard simply a mixture of vinegar and water.

    For pets ... douche! Yep ... my friends vet told her to buy douche and wash her dog in it ... it worked. LOL

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  4. Mythbusters did skunk spray on an episode. I don't remember what worked best, but it's probably on their website (even if you have to search the fan forum).

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  5. Anonymous11:19 AM

    Lori - we used to douse our first cat with tomato juice. Messy but works like a charm!

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  6. Anonymous11:58 AM

    Man, I'm kind of sad I'm not working there today!

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  7. Check out Mythbusters. Here's a link to the info: http://kwc.org/mythbusters/2004/09/mythbusters_solar_death_ray_sk.html

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  8. Baking Soda fixes everything!

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  9. Sorry,no skunk experiences, besides, I'm too busy laughing to actually type one out if I had one.

    Sorry.

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  10. Try adding vodka to the tomato juice. Wait that's to drink, I don't think there is anything that can be done to help with the smell. I have never seen a skunk in the wild.

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  11. Ah, classic. I always thought skunks were funny little things that smelled a bit. Burning eyes and throats? You never saw that on Pepe Le Peu.

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  12. I remember, when I was a kid in Oklahoma, my father got this idea to get a de-scented (unscented?) skunk as a family pet. I could hardly wait until the end of a particular week, as on the Saturday we were supposed to drive out to a farm in the country somewhere and meet our baby skunk. Then on Saturday, before we left the house, the phone rang. SUPPOSEDLY the breeder said that there had been a thunderstorm during the night, and the mother skunk ate her babies! I doubted that story then and still do now...unless somebody can assure me that these things CAN happen.

    We never got a skunk after all.

    Anyway, that's MY skunk story.

    Janet

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  13. There's just so much to say... did Bossman get sprayed while operating a backhoe in the field behind the building? Did he get stuck in the mud, so he couldn't get away? I'm clutching my sides at the sight; just can't believe it. I remember an episode of Johnny Quest when Race Bannon got sprayed by a skunk and bathed in blueberry juice, if I remember properly, and all it did was turn him purple. And Janet: mommies do eat their babies. We adopted a rat that had babies the day after we brought her home, and she ate at least two of them. World is a crazy place.

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  14. Anonymous10:15 AM

    Here's an interesting blog describing someone being sprayed --
    http://www.newyorkerinnascarcountry.blogspot.com/

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