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The Treleavens v. Nutty the Squirrel

Monday, June 4, 2018


Glaucomas volans
southern flying squirrel



Happy Monday, My Lovelies!  Would you like to be entertained? If so, then you've come to the right place.  Let me tell you about our skirmish with a tiny little squirrel over the weekend.

We were woken up in the wee hours of the morning in our town house by Mr. Sketchy Reader's phone.  He has an app that's connected to our "front door" camera mounted inside our lake cabin.  It was around 3:00 A.M.  

HIM:  It's probably just a car's headlights tripping the camera.
ME:  Do you want to check it?
HIM:  Nah....

At 4:33 A.M. Mr. Sketchy Reader's phone notifies us that something is moving in the lake cabin.

ME:  I think you should check the live feed.
HIM:  No, I doubt it's anything, seriously.

As we're packing to leave for the lake early Friday morning, Mr. Sketchy Reader approaches all timid-like:

HIM:  We have a squirrel in the cabin.
ME:  :O
HIM:  You're a country girl.  How do you get a squirrel out of the house?
ME:  :O
HIM:  You're not saying anything.
ME:  City boy, have you ever heard of fleas, ticks, mites, rabies, and SQUIRREL POX? We need to call an exterminator ASAP.  Plus, we need to figure out the point of entry.  I hope he didn't chew through the roof and the attic.
HIM:  The exterminator was just there on Wednesday because I saw him on the Canary App.
ME:   :/
HIM:  What's that look for?
ME:  Call him again!  It's bad enough we have to go down there and disinfect the entire cabin. We really need to call an exterminator to get the squirrel out of there.
HIM:  I bet he was in and out and he didn't bother anything.
ME:  So you think the wild animal held himself in check and didn't pee in our cabin?
HIM:  (looking rather sheepish)  I bet he isn't there.  I think I left the fireplace damper open, so he probably scurried right back up.
ME:  :/

So I loaded-up extra cleaning products, like Clorox, Clorox Wipes, Microbial Febreeze, you name it....I was armed!  

We wanted to keep the dogs out of the cabin for a few minutes while we looked around for the squirrel.  After all, Sally has her Barn Dog championship points, and I didn't want her to get bitten by the nasty little vermin!  

We didn't find the squirrel, but by golly Miss Molly that little menace left sooty footprints ALL OVER THE CABIN I kid you not.  It looked like a Loony Tunes cartoon with little black footprints all over almost every surface which was easy to see because most surfaces in our lake cabin are white.  I like white because white can be bleached!!!  There were footprints on the kitchen table, up the refrigerator, across the coffee table, across the countertops, on top of white poster frames, on the floor....everywhere!  Oh, and he did pee because you could see it....and poo, too, but there was more pee.

My hands are raw.  My hands are cracked.  :(

Still no sign of the squirrel.

At about 5:30 when we'd finished cleaning, we lit the Big Green Egg for grilling our steaks.  We enjoyed dinner while watching the Cubbies destroy the NY Mets.  After dinner, we retired to the sofa with the Westies to watch the rest of the game.  About the bottom of the 8th inning, Mr. Sketchy Reader's friend Bart called.  Bart owns the cabin next door to us, and we started telling him about the squirrel.  Something caught my eye and I saw the little bugger peeking out from under a lampshade!  I freaked the heck out.  Mustang Sally, only two feet away on top of the sofa, stared.  She clearly did not do as she was trained!  He did two loops around the base of the lamp and disappeared back under the lampshade.


This is the lamp where the little menace was hiding.  I cleaned the entire cabinet and all the stereo equipment, and I can't believe he didn't bite me.


So I kept wondering why it didn't come out sooner.  Was it hiding?  It could have been sleeping because flying squirrels are nocturnal.  

There was lots of screaming....even Mr. Sketchy Reader.  But I have to say in his defense he only reacted to Shelley's very loud screams of alarm.  

It took about thirty minutes to get the squirrel out of the cabin.  It was achieved via trial and error (more error) and eventually he ran out the cabin door.

Then we got to disinfect the cabin's living room.  Again.

Renamed him Nutty because he acted crazy.  The damper is closed, and I hope he doesn't return.

I hate rodents.  I hate them even more when they are in our home.

But the biggest mystery is this:  The Westies bark incessantly at gray squirrels in our backyard.  They didn't bark much at the one in our house!!!  What's with that?  And, why couldn't they smell it?  Maybe it's because we had so many other smells with the first round of disinfecting.  Who knows?

Thanks for visiting today.  I hope this story entertained you just a wee little bit!  

If you'd like to learn more about the southern flying squirrel, CLICK HERE.

Have a great week!  I should be back in a couple of days to share some books.  I've been praying to the internet gods to fix the stupid internet in our neighborhood because it's been unreliable the past four weeks.  We've had a history of poor service in this neighborhood, and at one time I knew the Charter Communications Guy who was constantly parked in our cut de sac on a first name basis.  He was like our Eldin from Murphy Brown.  Remember Eldin?  The painter who never left?  Seriously it's been a problem for Shelley because she's taking tow classes distance learning from her college which is a good thing since her college flooded thanks to TS Alberto.

This is starting out as a weirdly strange summer...

Until next time...

Blessings!
Ricki Jill


11 comments

  1. Oh No RJ, I know that was a mess to clean up after the pesty squirrel invaded your cabin. I have to say, the more I read the more I was laughing (sorry, it is funny) and immediately I was thinking of the move Christmas Vacation with the squirrel scene. With all the screaming it sounds just like it. I’m like you, how did he stay so still and quite while you were cleaning all around him. Sure hope he doesn’t return! Hope things start to look up for your summer.......hugs and thanks for sharing the laughs.

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  2. Oh, what a mess! I don't have much of a fondness for squirrels. They have destroyed our outdoor cushions twice, have gnawed the bark off or expensive Japanese Maple trees to the point that neither of them survived, and they make a mess on the terraces. Fortunately we haven't had one in the house. Obviously we don't want that! I'm sorry you had to deal with it at the cabin. Scary situation!

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  3. Entertaining, yes, but I hope he stays out this time. You brought back my PTSD of going to the cottage and arriving alone (Rick was riding his bike up and I beat him) and finding the destruction. It's an experience but I panic every year. And don't be too hard on the dogs. Lizzie had a nose-to-nose stare down with a mouse at the lake once-- and the mouse one. After a full minute, she turned around and walked away. I don't know which one I wanted to kill (figuratively) first!

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  4. Oh my gosh RJ this had me laughing. I know it is not laughing matter with all the work he gave you plus him hiding and coming out to scare all of you but the way you told the story is too funny. We had a raccoon get in our lake home years ago. I had left a cherry pie just baked on the kitchen counter too cool over night. In the morning we woke to cherry foot prints everywhere in the kitchen. We could not figure out what had eaten the pie and left the footprints until Terry looked to the back of the refrigerator where the paw prints seem to stop and there was Mr. Raccoon stuck in between the wall and the back of the refrigerator. He had cherry pie all over him. He started to show us teeth even though he was wedged tightly and could not move. We got the exterminator there quickly and he was rescued and taken to the wild life place near our home. What a mess. We can laugh about it now but it was scary with the rabies thought and the mess. Glad you got your little flying squirrel out of there.
    Hugs,
    Kris

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  5. OH no! I had been wondering how all this turned out since I saw your first reference to it. My late friend Carolyn had a cabin up in the NC mountains, and they opened it up a few summers ago to find that rats and various other creatures had taken up residence. They destroyed EVERYTHING, including the wiring and plumbing! I know this was a royal pain. I think there are traps for squirrels. We hung up some kind of bags of granular deterrent on the inside of the pergola top to keep the varmints from nesting up there. It seems to be working so far. You might try to put something like that on the inside of your chimney. Couldn't hurt!

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  6. Oh my goodness...that is CRAZY!!! I laughed and laughed...sorry! ROFL!!! But it does sound very comical to all of us. I'm sure it was a job to clean it to your standards and I'm sorry you had to do that. There's no way to really keep every critter out of a house. Oh...I guess those aren't encouraging words! Take care! Stay on your toes!!!

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  7. omg, Ricki Jill, I was wondering what you meant when you said your summer has been interesting! Holy wow, what a nightmare!! I can't believe he was still in there and hiding in your living room!! Yikes!! I think Hubby should treat you to a shopping spree at MKC or a luxury trip or spa visit! What a way to start your summer!!!
    Jenna

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  8. I would have died. Not really, but I can totally relate to every feeling you must've had, and every cleaning frenzy you went through. How exhausting that must've been. Glad you got him outside....for now, hopefully for good. Oh yea, I love the lamp, esp the shade.

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  9. OH MY GOODNESS!! I would have freaked out completely! I am so impressed that you stayed. I would've been running for the hills. This morning I opened the pool skimmer expecting to find leaves and sticks and instead a chipmunk was staring up at me!! He was standing on the skimmer flap just looking at me. I called my husband and said um...go. I am not cut out for farm life that's for sure!!

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  10. Well, I've been wondering what happened. You tell a good story. Sorry for all the hard work, stress and worry and then the frantic chase to get him out.

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  11. That poor little squirrel was probably so scared! I'm glad you got him out unharmed.

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I'm Ricki Jill. Welcome! I'm honored that you're reading my blog. I enjoy sharing my creative lifestyle @ The Bookish Dilettante. For more information about my blog, please read the Start Here page. Thank-you for stopping by, and I hope you'll consider following me via email.

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