Battle of the Critters

Right now there is a little ground squirrel somewhere who is really angry with me.  The problem is that somewhere could be stuck inside my wall.

I awoke in the middle of the night to the strange sounds of something running around.  Really it sounded like this ‘thing’ was playing.  I swear I heard it throw a rock and run after it. Disturbing! Once I convinced myself that it was not inside the house, I went back to sleep and didn’t hear anything again for a few nights.

The other day while walking around, I discovered two holes in the dirt right up against my house.

 

 

Cue exterminator!  “Ground squirrels dug those holes”, he says, “but who knows who’s living in them now!”  He quoted $225 to bait and trap my critter roomate.  I decided to let it go.  Low and behold, there was a great deal of scratching and chewing inside my wall early yesterday morning!  This time I manned up and banged on the wall.  I made the bold decision to go out side to try and catch the critter in action.  Just in case it was a grouchy critter, I armed myself with a swiffer sweeper and ran outside, still in pjs with morning hair and glasses.  I took a moment and thought ‘Gee, you’re a pretty good catch yourself!”  As I got to the side of the house – there it was – a little ground squirrel climbing right out of the hole.  He took one look at me and ran away.

Today, with visions of $225 dancing in my head, I took matters into my own hands.  In an effort to save a buck I decided to fill in the holes with dirt.  You would have thought Emme was with me because a simple task turned into an adventure!  As soon as I began to fill in the first hole, dirt caved in all around it and I found myself staring into an abyss.

 

Curiosity got the better of me and I just had to know how deep the hole was.  I stuck my swiffer down it and the whole thing nearly went in! I was then dreaming about having a long device with a camera on the end so I could see down and into what must be a most amazing lair.  I was then really upset about the possibility of my home foundation being ruined and loosing my house in the next earthquake.  This is where Emme would have handed me a beer (after laughing at me of course), but since she wasn’t here to save me from my own thoughts, I quickly covered the holes and left.  I am now trying to forget this ever happened.