#5 Squirrel Snagged

Just a reminder of the storyline, I ended up with two squirrels living in my attic: one over my bedroom and one over my office. After I caught and released them two other squirrels moved in! Which were also caught and released 6 miles away.

What happens is as soon as I remove the invaders, newcomers move right into their territory! ARGH.

Saturday we saw the little scamp that is our newest resident checking out the trap. The live-catch trap is hung on the privacy fence and it can be viewed from the bay window. This fenceline is a favorite highway of travel as it takes the squirrel from the front oak tree to the back peach tree and greenbelt, where there is also a running stream.

Right on schedule, I caught him yesterday between 3-5 p.m. which seems to be a favorite time for squirrels to be active. He was a bit of a scrambler; you have to be sure to pick up the cage handle with either a towel or some gloves.

When we got to the park, I have a favorite place I like to release them as it is near a band of wilder area so they can get protection if they are scared. When I got there another squirrel was digging a hole to bury some treasure and I thought, “probably one of the earlier releases, the little bastard!”

Squirrel #5 bounded off like a house on fire!

So far it has been quiet, so if I get a week of silence, I think I’ll go ahead and call someone to block up those two holes. Unfortunately, I can’t do it as it is a 36′ height from the ground on the second story.

companionship

Near my house there is a large house with a small field which has a white pony. The pony seems to be a pet but being alone has always struck me as well…lonely. At one time, I daydreamed about seeing if they would take Pandora as a companion because it is one mile from my house.

Coming back by this morning I noticed the pony (I always do a visual check) and saw him at the far end of his little field intently staring at something. Following his line of sight, I didn’t see them at first…and then I couldn’t help but burst out laughing!

The owners have gotten two black pygmy goats to keep pony company! they were scampering along, pleased as punch while  Pony was keeping himself as far away from those alien things as possible with a WTF!? KEEP THOSE THINGS AWAY FROM ME!!! Why are they in MY FIELD??? expression.

OHMY… so I’ll be interested to see if pony can loosen up and enjoy his new companions or he will continue to see them as alien creatures that might eat a horse if given half a chance.

UPDATE! pony has accepted alien goats. Yeah!

#4 Squirrel caught and released

Still bagging squirrels so to speak.This young guy was mad and the first that has tried to attack me. The warm weather has held so he was released at the park six miles away. You have to transport them at a distance or they will return.

Until I get the ones accessing the house all caught, I can’t board up the holes they have made. Argh.

I know I have at least one more to catch.  When I got home, #5 was climbing all over my Oak tree which is in the front yard and easily seen from my office room. Hmmmm…..

another squirrel relocated

Thursday I came down with a bad head cold that started with a high fever, shakes and chills but then just became a completely stopped up nose and sinus headache. Husband was slatted to come home Friday and he took off a bit early to come home for me. By Saturday, daughter was sick too.

Pretty much I’ve just been blowing out mucus and not being able to breathe. It’s been miserable and sucks the energy out of me. We have gotten some more things done on the home front but generally I come home between spells of productivity and crawl back into bed.

I do have some more squirrel news to report – we now have bagged THREE squirrels! The latest I think was the youngest and stupidest of the lot. We caught him pretty quickly and when released to the park he kept running ON THE GROUND, passing about 8 trees before he figured he should go high. Dummy.

Husband has “animal communicated” with each of the squirrels we have captured, warning them to take shelter elsewhere, but their attitude was: MINE. MY PLACE. Well, we gave them fair warning so I’m not going to waste too many tears about it. At least it went back to nice weather so I don’t feel too bad about releasing him right now to new territory.

I have learned, living with squirrels, that their sleeping habits mimic those of teen boys. They want to sleep til noon and then crawl out and find some food. All the squirrels have been caught around 3-4 p.m. when the day had reached it’s sunniest.

I may have a Squirrel #4. When I spotted the #3, newest resident of the high rise condo, sitting in the front yard under our oak tree, my son was in the house and called out that he saw “our” squirrel sitting on the back side fence near the neighbors’ tree. So it’s a Shrodinger Squirrel or we have another resident. The question is #4 wanting to living with people? Or will he settle for a tree?

Hawk Attack

I meant to write about my hawk enounter last week but got tied up with house stuff.

As you enter my front door, there is a large hedge on the right side where my north side neighbor put in a big hedge and cedar tree next to her driveway. As I came into the front door, a Red Tailed Hawk came zooming through the side yard, hitting the hedge at high speed, claws fanned out. He was after a sparrow which, squealing, escaped into the dark depths of the hedge. He was about 10 feet from me when he struck.

We had a hawk living in the neighborhood when we first moved here when there was more free grasslands in areas houses hadn’t yet been built. Occasionaly, I still see him and he’s been active around here recently, sitting very still on the back fence about 20 feet from our kitchen window, giving us full view of his terrible awesomeness.

Our house opens to a greenbelt (here that means a strip of watershed that is protected from development because of the many waterways in this area) and we often get mice and rabbits hanging about. Last winter I saw evidence of a hawk strike on a rabbit left in the snow in the backyard.

I wish him well. I love the beauty of hawks. I just wish he would catch some Goddamn squirrels…