I thought this was supposed to be a vacation!

The kids and I are taking a break from the cold Midwest and spending it in sunny California with my parents. And our dogs.

Apparently nobody told the raccoons and skunks that treat my parents' back yard as the wildlife superhighway to the neighbors' cat food and hot tub. While there wasn't much to snack on in our back yard, the neighbors had treats aplenty. And two dogs now hanging out back there was cramping the style of the neighborhood wildlife.

After a couple of close calls that smelled up the yard, our black lab Charlie finally got a faceful of skunk spray. It was bad enough to make him throw up. My eyes were watering inside the house with the doors shut. That stuff is awful!

So of course my first reaction was to go on Facebook and update my status to ask for help. My good friend Tammy (from high school!) gave me the following recipe:

http://dogs.about.com/od/caringfordogsandpuppies/ht/deskunking.htm

Let me tell you, it works. It was hard to tell at first because the whole yard smelled, but when we put him in the garage for the night, he was the best smelling thing around. So if your dog gets sprayed by a skunk, don't use tomato juice. Use the peroxide/baking soda recipe.

Since we haven't heard from (or smelled) the skunks since, I'm hoping that was the final battle of the back yard.

Wonder what the raccoons have planned.