That gate needs to be rehung; it’s progressed from hard to close, to, the edge closest to the house loudly scrapes the pebbled sidewalk when you try and the latch can’t latch.
Last night I pushed it as hard as I could so that the sidewalk braced it in place a good one. There was no room for even a little thing to squeeze by.
At sundown the neighbor’s dog barked and barked and barked and barked and barked.
At about 10:45 the dog was quiet but the gate, suddenly, was not.
The (presumed) skunk’s only success was in scooting back the way it had come before I could get over there fast enough for my second sighting.