Squirrels

Squirrels. What can you say about them? Some people think they are cute, fun, cuddly, etc...Me? I hate them. Why do I hate them? When I was a kid growing up we had a forest behind our house, or at least that's what I called it as a kid. It was really a huge gulley with a bunch of trees and rocks. There were lots of squirrels for me to shoot at as a young boy. There were also squirrels that lived in our attic and kept me awake at night as a little boy. Some squirrels had chewed a rather large hole in the side of our and began to live in our attic. My father didn't like that at all, so I had free reign to kill every squirrel possible. I used to be congratulated for this. It was pretty cool. My hatred for squirrels never ceased and has been rekindled now that I have my own house.

Some squirrels have chewed a small in the roof of my house and live up there. I remember waking up for the first time in my house to the sound of a squirrel peeling out in the attic. As Sarah puts it, "It sounded like the squirrel olympics." I have taken up squirrel hunting around my house. At first it was pretty easy because the squirrels would perch on the side of the house and it made for an easy shot. Eventually they got smart and quit doing that. I am also fortunate to have a dog that hunts. I didn't teach her how to hunt but somehow Bailey is very good at it. That I know of, she has killed 4 squirrels. She has also killed other animals but I will get to that some other time. That I know of we have eliminated around 6-8 squirrels at our house. This excites me! I hope to continue the hunt soon, but I haven't seen or heard many squirrels around my house. Maybe the word is out that my house house isn't a safe haven for the little rodents.

All of that to get to my story. This morning I heard a squirrel in my fireplace. I investigated the fireplace but I couldn't find a squirrel in sight. The boys were playing outside and had come inside to eat some snacks and play. Max is sitting in the recliner watching a movie and calmly says, "Dad. There's a squirrel in the fireplace. You need to get it." I said, "Where?". Max points and says, "In there." I will now use M and N for the talking parts. I look into the fireplace and there it is. It's a pretty big one. I wanted to get my BB gun and kill it but I didn't want to clean up any messes.
M: Dad. How are you going to get it out?
N: I'm going to open the fireplace doors and close the rest of the doors and hopefully it will leave on its own. I need you to take Grant and Bailey to your room.
M: Ok.
So off they go to Max's room. Grant starts crying because he thinks he is in trouble for something but he doesn't know what. I assured him he wasn't in trouble and they all left peacefully. So I close every door in the living room, move the ball pit in front of the hallway to the front living room and then open both sliding doors that lead to the back yard. I open the first door to the fireplace and the squirrel tries to escape but it hits the other glass door on the fireplace. So I open that door also, but the blasted squirrel won't budge. I grabbed Max's sword witht the green sheath and start hitting inside the fireplace hoping this will encourage the squirrel to move. Eventually it does and it takes off across the living room and jumps from a vent in the floor onto the door that leads to the boys' rooms'. It had ash on its feet and it left a paw print about 3-4 ft up the door. This squirrel probably jumped 5ft in the air before it hit the door. I was impressed with the skills this squirrel had. Once the squirrel hit the ground he saw that the glass doors to the back yard were open and he headed for freedom. After this I go get the boys and Max wants to know why it was in the fireplace. We talk about it for a few minutes then we start playing again. It was a great day at the McGooden household. I hope yours was as exciting as mine.