Squirrel Maintenance

I had a brain freeze just now and couldn't remember the correct login information. What a dumbass! I find myself saying that a lot.

Living around a park, squirrels are a given. They are fun to watch when you have a Squirrel-Proof Bird Feeder. But can be terribly annoying as well. I have documented here on more than a couple of occasions some of the damage they have caused around the house.

The most annoying problem I have had is when a particular squirrel (I don't want to single out any names) decides to burrow into the eves of the house. I have lined the eves with sheets of metal. I've filled up cavities with foam. I have dusted areas of the roof and trim with Cayan Pepper and other anti-squirrel preparations. They all work but squirrels are tenacious. You can deter them but they will always come back to try again...when you least expect it.

Yesterday must have been one of the days when my expectations were approaching the least. I came home to a back porch covered in little shards of foam. At first I thought they where packing peanuts and I was looking around for a box full of them or a package. Upon inspection, I realized that the little bastards were back at their devious plan to winter in the roofing.

So, in the face of the brisk morning air hovering somewhere in the low teens, I hauled out the ladder this morning and climbed up there to spread a little more anti-squirrel preparation. That should keep them away for a day or so until I can more thoroughly coat the area with more metal or preparation. It appears to me that the squirrels are totally ungrateful for all I do for them, which is feed them. I bought a wonderful squirrel feeder a few years back. I put it up on a tree and regularly filled it with unsalted peanuts. Well, to show their appreciation, they chewed the hell out of it and then turned their chewing attention on the house.

That gets me all pissed off and I swear to never feed them again. And then they do something cute and squirrel-like and win me over again.

I have now come to realize that I am not going to be rid of them and they are not going to stop chewing. And so we live in an uneasy co-existence where we each remain weary of the other and tolerate the comings and goings of our respective selves.

It's a very holistic approach to life that I have yet to fully embrace. Every time I start to align my chakra into the Fung Shway of life with arborial rodentia, the little bastards chew up something else and send me for the shotgun.

Oooooooooohm!