Erica Le Pu

As if the cartoon didn't give it away, let's just say that Erica now has a new found respect for one of nature's most potent defense mechanisms: getting sprayed by a skunk.

Erica was driving to see me the other night, and lo and behold, a skunk ran out in the middle of the road and sprayed her car. Since it was cold that night, Erica had the heat blaring, thus forcing all of the rotten egg smell into the car's interior, and consequently, all of her and her belongings. She came to my house, and I made her stand out on the porch until we could determine a course of action. We decided to leave everything out on the porch for the night and research what to do on the Internet.


*** (This is a picture of Erica trying to figure out if her purse smells like skunk)

Legend says that tomato juice rids articles of skunk smell. Not so. It turns out that a mixture of dish soap, vinegar, and baking soda is the only thing that works. So, the next day, we went to the laundromat and washed all of her clothes, bags, and anything else that was machine washable in the mixture. It turned out great, and a wash, spin, and a rinse cycle later, she was in the clear. Her car took a few more days to get the smell out, but nevertheless, one week later, Erica is skunk-free.