of Squirrels and Chimneys

No more squirrels, so far. Today we did some "squirrel exclusion," which consisted of shoving some stainless steel wool pads into some cracks and crevices around the flat roof. The other day, we did some general attic exclusion, which included new metal mesh over the attic vents.












Meanwhile, the chimney is a mess. The mason said we need to have it rebuilt from the roofline up. This is a big job, made more difficult by the slate roof. We need some good weather for this to happen. So for now, we're laying down plastic and towels to absorb whatever water comes in. We've had a nice stretch of dry days, but it looks like we'll be wringing out towels again this weekend. Sigh.

Not a varmint is stirring....

Varmint #4, which we took up to Brook Farm State Park, seems to be the last varmint, at least for now. We put the trap right back up there yesterday after we got back. So we've been varmint-free for over 24-hours so far.

This leads to a disconcerting theory: what if there was only one varmint? What if he came back every time after we drove him to Shedd Park (less than 3 miles away, though across the Merrimack)? What if driving him all the way to Brook Farm was the only way to really get him out? Brook Farm is 12 miles away from here (though, as Jake pointed out, not as the squirrel flies). Will it just take him a couple of days to get back?

We wait. We wonder. We leave the trap set.

We also spent some time in the attic, plugging up a few likely places. It has rained a lot all day today, so we had a chance to see the extent of the chimney leakage. It's a lot. It looks like it will be clear for the rest of the week, so we're hoping we can get the mason in to take care of it. He has recommended that we take down and re-build the chimney. That's probably what we'll do. The thing probably hasn't been touched since the house was built, so it's time. And then we won't have to worry about it again for another hundred years. By then, hopefully, they will have trained flying squirrels to take care of jobs like this.

Varmint #4: The Legend Continues....

We woke up this morning to yet another little flying squirrel in the attic. That's number 4. We took him to Great Brook Farm (the others went to Shedd Park) and took a long walk there. I also caught myself a tick! It's been quite the wildlife filled day.

Jake is putting the trap back upstairs right now.....will there be another tonight?

Varmint #3

This is getting a bit ridiculous:



Here's the thousand dollar question: is this little guy the same one as before? Does he just keep coming back for a free meal? Is that possible? Here is where we take him:



Does he hitch-hike back? Does he fly? In order to answer this question (we hope) we have painted a little bit of purple ink on the belly of the beast. At least we'll know (maybe).

Varmint Count for January 6th, 2007: 3
For the math-enabled among you, this means half a squirrel a day.

Ew.

Shall we start a betting pool? My money's on 5 (for no particular reason), but I'll be quite happy if we're done.

Flying Squirrel 2, Electric Boogaloo

We can only hope that this is in fact a second squirrel, and not just the first one coming back.
This little guy was much more calm than the first.
Boy, these critters LOVE peanut butter!


Will there be more?

Let's start a pool. Any guesses?

We're putting the trap back up there tomorrow morning.

Flying Squirrel

Flying Squirrel
Originally uploaded by Jake Bridge.

The Havahart® trap worked like a charm (once I set it correctly). Here's our attic guest, captured at last.

Flying squirrels, you may notice, are much cuter than grey squirrels. It's those big nocturnal eyes. They also are suckers for peanut butter.

Flying Squirrel "Scooter" or "Lefty" Finally Caught!

In case you didn't figure it out yet, we have a flying squirrel in our attic. Well, as of this moment, 5 pm, we no longer have that flying squirrel in our attic. Jake is taking him on a little drive right now. We're very pleased. It has been quite a saga.

This morning, the little critter had indeed taken the bait. But due to a slight operator error, the doors did not lock him in, and he escaped. We re-baited, re-set (correctly) and just a few hours later, scurry, scurry, SNAP! we got 'em. He was pretty upset, so Jake covered the whole trap with some towels, put him (in the trap) in a plastic bin, and he's driving him up to Brook Farm State Park right now. I like the name "Scooter," Jake thinks "Lefty" (if in fact this is the one who got his foot stuck in the trap before).

Critter Calculations

Cost of dealing with mouse/mice at 83 Durant Street:

Initial spending:
Victor (TM) brand basic spring traps, 8 @ 50¢ .....................$4
Peanut butter (Jiff Crunchy), pro-rated ....................................5¢
(We do keep peanut butter in the house, so we cut them a break on that)
(Also keep in mind that they stole an entire trap.)

Upgraded spending after initial spending provided no results:
Victor (TM) brand "Easy Set" model spring traps, 6 @ $1....... $6
More peanut butter.....................................................................5¢
Bacon, pro-rated........................................................................25¢
1 hot dog from the local meat shop...........................................33¢
1 package gumdrops.................................................................50¢
(we do not keep hot dogs or gum drops in the house, therefore the critters incur the full charge)

Finding out you don't have mice: priceless.

Good News/Bad News

The good is... Mouse Problem Over!!! relish that for a bit.

Now the bad news: The mouse problem never really began. It turns out we don't have mice at all, but there is something that was/is making noise in the walls and eating the peanut butter (but not bacon) we've been kindly serving.

Here was my previous reasoning:

1. Either we have mice, rats, or grey squirrels.
2. We don't have squirrels. (Squirrels are diurnal, and we always heard scratching at night.)
3. We don't have rats. (Please, oh please don't let it be rats.)

Therefore, we have mice.

Turns out the conclusion was false. Bear with me as I slip casually into logic teacher mode: The argument is valid (i.e. if the premises are true, then the conclusion must also be true), so at least one of those premises must be false. Here's an exercise for the reader at home: Identify the false premise(s).

[update: I don't know where those little flower bullet points came from. It was a numbered list in the preview window.]