Wanted: Dead or (preferably) alive

This is an update of an update on our friends the squirrels.

The polite young man who is my favorite pest-elimination expert told me this morning he had caught two of the varmints. "Dead?" I inquired. "No," he said. "Good," I replied.

I didn't want to watch him take them off the roof in those cages. So I came back into the house.


He set another trap/cage (see above^) near the hole where they have easy access in and out of our attic. He thinks they are still using our facilities, and even though we haven't heard anything upstairs for more than a week he hopes to catch more. The boy is on a roll!

To be continued..

~ ~ ~

In a completely unrelated development, I saw this sign today in the window of a music store downtown and I wanted to share:

"Go Green - Play Acoustic."

Sepia Scenes ~ mystery photos

This is an unusual subject for sepia scenes, but here goes. Some of you may know we have had a problem with squirrels in our attic. You can read about it here. They get along quite well with the bats in our belfry. OK, I'm kidding.

The pest-removal professional set cages and put them on the roof. He used a peanut butter concoction to lure the squirrels. After he catches them he will seal up the hole; problem solved. Maybe.

Unfortunately the cages you see pictured have been up there for more than two days and the squirrels have not been back to have a snack. The weather has been nice and clearly they have been out and about, because we haven't heard any footsteps "upstairs" since Monday.

To see more scenic sepia shots, visit Mary T, The Teach, at Sepia Scenes.

Squirrel update

Cage traps have been set...pest removal technician said he put a "concoction" that included peanut butter in the cages to try to catch them. "They usually cooperate," he said of the pesky squirrels who have taken up residence in our attic.

He'll be back tomorrow to check on things.

That's all from here. Have a good Monday.

* UPDATE: My friend Linda asked what if the varmints don't cooperate. Well, then we go to phase II, which is a trap. Let's hope they decide to cooperate and get out of this alive.

~ * Happy Birthday * ~

Dear Ralphie,

I"m sorry your birthday weekend was marred by the news that it's going to cost $425 plus tax to get rid of those varmints in our attic.

At least we had a nice dinner out last night.

Enjoy your day today!

Love,
Patti

Updates to earlier posts...birds and frubbles, part II

In the frubbles department, we do have squirrels in the attic. I was right! Good guess.
This morning the young guy from the pest-control company showed me the hole between the eaves where they have easy access to the attic. Why didn't I notice that myself?

He is coming back Monday to, ahem, work on getting rid of the guys. Traps will be involved. I don't want to know. They will come back every day and check on the traps.
All I know is it's going to cost a lot of money, money that we really don't have to spend on squirrel removal. Sigh.
A least there is a one-year warranty for the hole that they are going to seal. Warranty won't cover any new holes that allow varmint access.

As for the wheelchair, all is back to normal. On Friday Ralph got a new chair cushion and back. They wanted to charge him, a fairly-regular customer, $1,000 but somehow he got it for a little over $300. You go, Ralphie!!

And in the female cardinal department, that vain little bird was preening in the side-view mirror of my car again, yesterday afternoon and this morning. She likes to look at herself, it seems. See photos below:


And the lucky reflection capture:

Frubbles, we've got frubbles

Usually I try to keep things fairly upbeat here. But today is not one of those upbeat posts kind of days.
You could say that when it rains it pours, because we are drenched.

Yesterday Ralph knocked on the door (our doorbell is broken) and when I opened it up, he was leaning way back in the wheelchair, with his feet suspended in midair, as if he were on a carnival ride.
The dang chair back had snapped on him when he had leaned over to get something in the van. It had been making clicking noises for awhile when he would shift his weight, but who would have thought that it would break on him?

What followed was an hour-long attempt to shore up the back of the wheelchair. I'll skip the details. Then when it was time to go to bed, it was another hour to get the broken, wobbly wheelchair at just the right height so that he could transfer into the bed. Finally he figured out a way to do that. Long story.

This morning he headed off to the medical-supply place where they repair the chair. He has been a fairly frequent customer, I must say.

Meanwhile, in other news, we have squirrels running around in the attic. At least I'm guessing they're squirrels. Or very large and noisy birds!
We started hearing them on and off yesterday. At least they quieted down at night and didn't keep us up. But our poor kitty cats have been hearing them and smelling them. They are going bonkers.
Must stop writing and call pest elimination experts.

Wish us luck.