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It has been a long day of copyediting and I am so done with it. :P
Today I also tried, once again, to coax the squirrel out of our attic. I don't think I've shared the squirrel saga here, but if I have, apologies for repeating myself. Basically, we've had a squirrel in and out of our attic all summer. At first this wasn't a huge problem, but then the landlord started covering over all the eaves/trim with vinyl, which effectively removed the hole(s) that that squirrel was using and an entrance exit. So we started looking for ways to remove the squirrel humanely.
First we tried getting a hold of a humane trap - our local hardware store doesn't carry them, and the local animal shelter/animal control does not lend out traps for wildlife and does not come out for removal. Neither does the SPCA. They gave us the number to a private business, who upon questioning would charge us $185 to simply come out and tell us we have a squirrel in our attic (i.e., not to actually retrieve the squirrel). We decided that was a bit much, which left us feeling like we were on our own.
And then the squirrel left. Or at least, we did not see or hear the squirrel, who would previously at times cheekily poke his head out from his hole-perch and ppphfffft at us. We thought he was gone, which was a good thing, especially with the work being done on the house.
Of course, come Sunday, after the landlord covered the last of the eaves/trim and the last escape route for the squirrel, we heard it - a furious scratching and gnawing at the new vinyl over the old escape routes.
Shit. Damnit. Screwitall. We didn't want the poor thing trapped up there.
And so today, I did what any reasonable squirrel-loving idiot would do. I opened the attic door partially, laid out some goodies to entice our squirrel friend (nuts of course), closed off the doors to all the other rooms in the house, and opened the outer doors. My (vain) hope was that the squirrel would come down, have a treat, and see an exit. The reality was that the house got a bit warm, the squirrel came down and cheekily sat on the attic ladder (several times), glancing about, but then, upon seeing us (or maybe hearing the two loudest male children on the planet), skirted away.
This may be worse than if he'd completely ignored the attic exit, because now I have hope that he might actually come out via this route. Of course I highly doubt we will know what the hell to do if he does come down into the living area. Anyway, since I have concerns that this little one is now trapped in the attic, I'm going to check out some other hardware stores a bit further away tomorrow to see if I can find a humane trap. And maybe set out a bit of water/food for him just to make sure he doesn't die up there. Tomorrow L. will sit at home with the attic door open once again, and maybe have a fantastic tale to tell me.
I know, we haven't thought this through very well, have we?
Today I also tried, once again, to coax the squirrel out of our attic. I don't think I've shared the squirrel saga here, but if I have, apologies for repeating myself. Basically, we've had a squirrel in and out of our attic all summer. At first this wasn't a huge problem, but then the landlord started covering over all the eaves/trim with vinyl, which effectively removed the hole(s) that that squirrel was using and an entrance exit. So we started looking for ways to remove the squirrel humanely.
First we tried getting a hold of a humane trap - our local hardware store doesn't carry them, and the local animal shelter/animal control does not lend out traps for wildlife and does not come out for removal. Neither does the SPCA. They gave us the number to a private business, who upon questioning would charge us $185 to simply come out and tell us we have a squirrel in our attic (i.e., not to actually retrieve the squirrel). We decided that was a bit much, which left us feeling like we were on our own.
And then the squirrel left. Or at least, we did not see or hear the squirrel, who would previously at times cheekily poke his head out from his hole-perch and ppphfffft at us. We thought he was gone, which was a good thing, especially with the work being done on the house.
Of course, come Sunday, after the landlord covered the last of the eaves/trim and the last escape route for the squirrel, we heard it - a furious scratching and gnawing at the new vinyl over the old escape routes.
Shit. Damnit. Screwitall. We didn't want the poor thing trapped up there.
And so today, I did what any reasonable squirrel-loving idiot would do. I opened the attic door partially, laid out some goodies to entice our squirrel friend (nuts of course), closed off the doors to all the other rooms in the house, and opened the outer doors. My (vain) hope was that the squirrel would come down, have a treat, and see an exit. The reality was that the house got a bit warm, the squirrel came down and cheekily sat on the attic ladder (several times), glancing about, but then, upon seeing us (or maybe hearing the two loudest male children on the planet), skirted away.
This may be worse than if he'd completely ignored the attic exit, because now I have hope that he might actually come out via this route. Of course I highly doubt we will know what the hell to do if he does come down into the living area. Anyway, since I have concerns that this little one is now trapped in the attic, I'm going to check out some other hardware stores a bit further away tomorrow to see if I can find a humane trap. And maybe set out a bit of water/food for him just to make sure he doesn't die up there. Tomorrow L. will sit at home with the attic door open once again, and maybe have a fantastic tale to tell me.
I know, we haven't thought this through very well, have we?
