Well, spring has finally sprung (have I said that before?) and all the little birds and animals are frolicking. We've discovered that Heathcliffe is actually a She-cliffe. There have been several suitors chasing our squirrel around the yard - part of the mating ritual according to a "Bing"ed article. (Googled is SO 2000!) Anyhow, we just can't have little baby squirrels living in our house, so we borrowed a squirrel trap (live - no gasps of horror, please) from some friends and laid it out on one of Heathcliffe's favourite paths.
Ron has diligently been tiling the bathroom and when I arrived home he told me he'd heard the squirrel in the wall scratching at the mesh wire we'd put up between the floor boards. Later that evening Ron beckoned me in to the washroom (he'd been inspecting his handy work) and I could definitely hear scratching, but it didn't sound like anything metal. Ron asks "Where do you think it's coming from?"
"The wall?" I responded hesitantly.
"No, I think it's coming from the pipes." says he. I'm thinking to myself, "what pipe?", but Ron pointed to the toilet flange, stuffed with clothes etc to keep the gases from coming out. Now what would a squirrel be doing in the sewer system? I told him not to be silly. Anyhow, downstairs he goes and heats up a kettle of water, once complete he marches upstairs and pulls out the stuffing from the flange. Down goes the hot water. Well, what do you think happened? The squirrel pops out like a jack-in-the-box and proceeds to climb up the nearest "tree", that being Ron's leg.
Well, Ron let out a very reasonable yell and told me several times (in fairly rapid succession) to go get the trap while he hopped around on one leg, trying to shake the squirrel off. Down the stairs I rush, out the door (in my slippers no less) to the trap and rush back in, trap in hand. But doesn't the trap spring before I can get it to him? And could I get the darn thing set again? No, of course not. But not to worry. Ron managed to shepherd (squirrel-herd?) Heathcliffe in to the shower stall and put a large bucket of him (her...). Thankfully, because he was tiling, the shower had a sheet of plastic down on the tray, so Ron neatly wrapped up the bucket and put the lid on the bucket. (Thank heaven for Rubbermaid!) We took an unscheduled drive to a land more remote (if you imagine!) and released our little friend back in to the wild. We had to go more than 5 miles away so that Heathcliffette can't find her way back. No rent, no room.
So ends the story of Heathcliffe the Squirrel and her adventures with the folks from away. Stay tuned for more updates from the wilds of PEI. (Oh, you may wonder HOW the squirrel got in to the sewer. We imagine it fell through the new pipe vent leading up to the attic - the plumber didn't take it up to the roof because of all the snow. So really we RESCUED the critter and released it out in to a more natural environment.)
Great Story! Can't wait to have our own crazy animal stories. The neighbours have already mentioned seeing bears. We have hear coyotes, tons of diff types of birds.
ReplyDeleteI would have liked to see a video of that.
ReplyDeleteToo bad you had to get rid of him but, your right they could do a lot of damage in the walls.
Hopefully, they still cant get into the sewer pipe when you have your toilet back on, otherwise
that could be unnerving.
I'm binging also, did you know BING stands for
Bing Is Not Google.
In an update, more squirrels have arrived! (They were running around under the floors in the TV room, cheeky things!) We have the trap out and the darned things jump up and down on the trigger pan while eating the bait! They aren't heavy enought to set it off. We've seen foxes around, but they seem more interested in the farmers' fields than our trees. We'll just see what happens when we get a smaller trap.
ReplyDeleteDidn't know that BING stood for that.
Maybe you need a cat ?
ReplyDelete