Lisa, Assuming it is a skunk, raccoon or possum, you can live trap it. Trapping a skunk can be fun....or at least getting rid of a trapped skunk can be fun. However, raccoons and possums are easy to deal with. I would not relocate them because you'd just be giving someone else your problem. However, if you or your husband have no qualms about it, a simple shot to the head (of the animal!) takes care of the problem. Since you live in town, it might be best to contact the animal control officer if there is one. They might even loan you the trap and deal with the animal when it is caught. I trapped 15 raccoons and one possum last year in an effort to save my peaches. I was not successful at that, but I did get really good at trapping! I used dry cat food as the bait, and I bet that would work for you, too, because in town the animals are probably used to stealing pet food. As to trapped skunks....well, I trapped two this spring. They were trying to build a den under my front porch. Again, if you have an animal control officer, he will know how to deal with skunks, but if you do it yourself it isn't all that hard. Skunks aren't really very excitable. You can calmly walk up to the cage and cover it quickly with a tarp. Carefully wrap the tarp around the cage as you pick it up. Then take it somewhere that you can pull the tarp off with a stick or something and deal with the skunk from a reasonable distance. They usually don't spray when quickly dispatched. I've never successfully trapped a squirrel. Look up Bon-bons in the Orchard forum for how to deal with the long-tailed tree rats. I'll probably be roundly condemned for these suggestions, but I know how you feel about having all your hard work wasted. Protecting your plants from critters is possible, but having to fence everything you want to keep sure takes some of the fun out of it, doesn't it? I spend more on fence to protect my new fruit and nut trees from deer than I do on the trees themselves. However, at least I can eliminate, or at least greatly reduce, the damage the deer do. There is no reasonable way to protect my orchard from raccoons, possums and squirrels, so I eliminate them. None is an endangered species, even on my property, though I am doing my best! Chuck

Not a fan of small rodents. Not because they scare me or anything, I used to raise fancy mice. They ALL tend to be destructive. Field mice won't allow any balloon flowers or relatives in my garden, they will be eaten withing a day (they also eat obedient plant, but only when it's close to flowering). Chipmonks ate every flower head off of my cornflowers. Red squirrels...my grandma used to shoot them on sight, and I understand why! I found one in my potting shed the other day and MAN I was wishing I had her .22 with me when I opened those doors! Instead I made that click click click type noise the grays make and it took off like a shot. I'm sure it'll be back in there. We had damage from them in our house when we bought it, I'd rather not see them around at all. I considered taking out the few pines/spruces around to encourage them to move on, but I have to wonder if they've adapted enough not to care...

Posted by ruthieg__tx: "Most of us who read the joke...read the whole thing ...we didn't skip the "chip monks" line..." Neither did I. The collection plate chips being cashed in by church representatives was the only part of the "trivia" that made any sense so I did not address that. Posted by lindakathy: "Maybe DD didn't see the punchline either." I had no idea that that was a "punch line". The post was titled *trivia*. I take it that no one here has ever been to Vegas and been on a tour. "People misread or misinterpret a post. Sometimes, even, people jump all over someone just for the fun of it." Yes, I see that now. Another 'pile on'. Just for the "fun" of it. Geeze. Have fun people. Posted by jenni_ca: "Dilly Dally did you actually think this was anything other than a joke? Chipmonks....you believed that!! Oh my! Um yeah. Why don't you read this link about the Chip Monks of Las Vegas: Here is a link that might be useful: Chip Monks of Las Vegas

When I was young, somewhere around 5 - 8 or so, I was doing something in church, maybe squirming, that displeased Dad, so he reached over and gave the lobe of my ear a substantial tweak. I made a sound of protest, rather loudly. Wrong move. Dad led me out of the church, across the lot to the church shed, built when we had horses drawing buggies, with concrete walls and a high, metal roof. I think that he took me to the far end of the shed and ministered to my legs and rear end with his belt. On the conclusion of the exercise, we were headed back into church, with my hand in Dad's, and I, embarrassed, said that I wasn't going back in there. Dad gave me a choice - back into church ... or a return to the shed. I chose to return to church (as the least unpalatable of two evils, possibly?). It was mid-June, with all of the windows in church open, and after church, Dad asked the man of the family that occupied the next pew for many years whether they'd heard any of the operation. "Every crack ... and every yell", was the reply. Ole joyful ... who made the mistake, a couple of years later, of leaning over and advising younger brother, when he began doing a similar activity in church, that he'd better stop ... or Dad would take him out to the church shed