Friday, February 22, 2008

Squirrel in the house


HPIM0129[1]
Originally uploaded by redhenmom
On Tuesday night I sat down to eat pizza with Toshi and noticed that one of my orchids had been dumped out on the floor. A sweep of the room revealed that several plants had been dumped. Alarmed, I checked for cash, check books, and the Wii (the only item anyone might steal) and found everything intact. The only other clue was a few almonds strewn on our bedroom floor. I called my neighbor and she said that she had seen tracks in the snow up to her door and wondered if we had been robbed. Tosh bravely took a flashlight and a knife to check out the downstairs while I talked to him on the cell phone. The almond clue led my neighbor to ask if I had nuts anywere in the bedroom. A quick check found a bag that was chewed open. Her guess was a squirrel! I got on the internet and read about live traps but it was too late to buy one. (Squirrel 1- Mom-0) The next day we went to work and the squirrel had an all-day party in the house. I put a tall, 5 gallon bucket with a cracker and p-nut butter in the bottom and he, ate the p-nut butter and strewed crumbs all over. He bit holes in my orchid leaves and tried to climb the fake tree and knocked it over. (Squirrel 2-Mom-0) Dad and I went out and got a live trap and set it in the basement. The squirrel managed to avoid the trap all night so in the morning we nailed a thick sheet to the doorway and piled up furniture to keep it in the basement. (Squirrel-3- Mom-0) I came home from work with great hopes but found the trap still unsprung and squirrel pee in the carpet. (Squirrel-4- Mom-0) I now realized that the squirrel was probably more thirsty than hungry. Dad suggested an apple slice. I went for it and moved the trap into the family room. After going to work out, I returned to hear the rattle of an angry squirrel in a cage!!!! I was delighted. I donned gloves and took the cage out to the driveway. Tosh read me the directions for springing the trap and the squirrel shot like a rocket out of the cage and disappeared over the horizon, hopefully never to be seen again in our home. Final score=Squirrel-gone, Mom-the victor!

3 comments:

Nikki said...

Oh my! What an adventure!! My parents recently had a similar experience at my grandparents house- though not quite as drawn out and dramatic as yours! Hope he never returns!!:)

Annette Shumway said...

Dude our mom is tough! I just can't get over that picture mom! You are just BEAMING with pride! It must have been a great victory! I'm mostly just glad it was all taken care of before we got there! seriously.

Lori said...

Mom, maybe you should change professions and become a squirrel catcher for real. We have a rat in our house right now about the size of that squirrel and I wish you could fly out here and work your Kung Foo magic and get that rat. Anyway, you rock!