Sunday, September 27, 2009

Awwww...those adorable little creatures...

Squirrel photo crasher

In mid August, a couple vacationing near Banff, Canada, set the timer on their camera for a self portrait, only to be joined at the last moment by one of the locals.  Yes, it is funny, and even cute...especially if you don't live with the little varmints.

We seem to have two types of squirrels here at our house...ground squirrels and tree squirrels.  The ground squirrels look like regulation issue brown creatures and are really a lot of fun to watch.  The tree squirrels (which I have been told are named Thompson's Squirrels) are equally charming.  They are grey and white, and have long, lacy tails and little tufts on their ears.  When they zoom from one spot to the next, it's almost like they have little jet packs on their backs.

Last week I was sitting here, enjoying the peace, listening to that peaceful sound of beach rocks rolling on the
beach as the tide comes in.  I was blissing out over this when it
occurred to me that the ocean is about 1,000 miles away.  Upon closer
inspection, it turns out our adorable little rodents had decided to
bunk under our house for winter.  Mr. Sunflower went out this morning
and found approximately 3-4 buckets full of gravel, dirty, and rocks
displaced by the little fellers.  Those babies sure can move dirt.

Recently Mr. Sunflower took my little Ford Escape in to have an oil change.  While there, they told him they found some slight damage to the wiring from these adorable little guys (mostly likely the ground squirrels or chipmunks).  About a week later, when he was telling me about it, we decided to go have a little look-see for ourselves.

I wish I had had my camera with me, or thought to have gotten it, to take a photo.

All the insulation stuff from behind my dashboard had been removed and a rather large and cozy nest was seated on top of my engine.  We couldn't find any more wire damage, at least, and we promptly removed the stuffing that abounded.  Next (this is where it gets ugly):  the recommended solution is to hang either a bag of moth balls in the engine compartment or strategically stuff dryer sheets all around.  Not loving the idea of breathing moth balls, I opted for the latter.  I always thought Bounce had a nasty smell, and this confirms it.  Now, when I drive my little car, I think of it as the Bounce Mobile...that smell follows me everywhere.  I haven't checked to see if it's working...I can't face it yet.

This is not, as it turns out, an unusual occurrence in this part of the woods.  I've had several friends have uninvited guests chow on their wiring and wreck their cars over night...another thing to put on the list of things they don't tell you about when you move out of the city, I guess!



3 comments:

Kay in Albuquerque said...

Reminds me of the time Click and Clack, The Tappit Brothers (on NPR) got a call from a woman whose dog liked car rides, because every time she turned on the vent/AC/heater dog snacks would shoot out of the vents and the dog would catch them on the fly. Where was this coming from? Turned out to be mice, raiding kibble from a big bag stored on the garage floor and storing it for winter in the car's vent system. Imagine the poor dog's disappointment when the food got sealed up and there were no more flying snacks!

6secoyarnhos said...

Kay: That's HYSTERICAL!!! Thanks for sharing that. An expensive doggy vending machine...hmmmmm....
My engine compartment was full of pinons, guess that was easier than finding the cat & dog food bags in the root cellar.

RuthieJ said...

Those squirrels are always much cuter when they're outside and not inside creating mischief! Bounce Mobile -- I love that and definitely better than mothballs!
P.S. We have a skunk living under our utility shed--I wonder where the rabbits are going to go now this winter?