Local Lesbians keep Squirrel in Bedroom
Sep. 22nd, 2005 01:31 pmNon-angst related, whee. And my legs are... relatively okay. My knees are messed up, but that's not news.
I'm doing better, albeit stressed about money.
So on Sunday, Giny and I went shopping just to get the hell out of the house for a while. Between my knees being weird and her medicine giving her anxiety attacks, we haven't been out a lot lately. My cat, Squeaks (The one that actually knows how to hunt and does), was outside. Ginny's cat Spider has no brain, and is not allowed outside. We came home and Squeaks came in around our ankles, and we talked for a minute and decided to go upstairs and nap, so far, very normal. I get to the top of the stairs, see Spider in front of me in the hall chirping, and hear things being knocked over in the bedroom. Squeaks was still on her way up the stairs, mind you. I just kind of kept going out of sheer momentum and turned the corner to the bedroom, only to see a squirrel making a mad circuit between the foot of the bed, the window, and the box at the foot of the bed. Unfortunately the cats seemed to notice the squirrel at about the same time I did, so what followed was a mad scramble as we each tried to grab a cat before things came to bloodshed.
Both cats shut up in the bathroom seemed to calm things down a little, but the squirrel was still making this scrambling circle around the room, deviating every now and again to knock a few things off the dresser. My first thought was to make sure it didn't look rabid, which it didn't just panicked. I'd be panicked too if I were a small furry animal trapped in a house with two cats. After a moment's thought I went downstairs and grabbed a wastebin, and Ginny got a big flat piece of artboard. I got the artboard down right in the spot on the foot of the bed where he kept pausing, but I was just too damn slow and every attempt to put the wastebasket on him resulted in a big circle around the whole damn room, knocking more things off the bookshelf. We got a towel, which made him scramble around even more. We stood around the foot of the bed, one with the basket, one with the towel, and still failed miserably. Then I got the bright idea of bait. I left Ginny upstairs with our houseguest and put peanut butter on a cracker, and we put that on the artboard. He was interested, but too panicked to make any attempt to eat it. We kept standing real still, giving him a hard time of seeing us, but he was just too damn fast and he wouldn't stay still more than five seconds. Finally, about fifteen minutes in, it occurred to me that he was spending the most time hanging between the window and the blinds (which we really didn't need replaced again due to squirrel damage, the cats are bad enough).
I edged around the box, got the screen off the window with Ginny's help, we opened the window, and zoom, he's gone. Easy as that.
Oh well, what do you want, I'm a Washington girl, we didn't see a lot of squirrels when I was a kid. Wrong kind of trees I guess.
Now the cats keep searching the bedroom for another exciting toy, hoping they can play with it before we take it away next time, and we still can't figure out where the hell it got in from. The only thing that even seems possible is in from under the sink in the kitchen, but that's downstairs. How he would have gotten all the way from there to the bedroom, without knocking over or nibbling anything else in the house is a mystery.
I'm doing better, albeit stressed about money.
So on Sunday, Giny and I went shopping just to get the hell out of the house for a while. Between my knees being weird and her medicine giving her anxiety attacks, we haven't been out a lot lately. My cat, Squeaks (The one that actually knows how to hunt and does), was outside. Ginny's cat Spider has no brain, and is not allowed outside. We came home and Squeaks came in around our ankles, and we talked for a minute and decided to go upstairs and nap, so far, very normal. I get to the top of the stairs, see Spider in front of me in the hall chirping, and hear things being knocked over in the bedroom. Squeaks was still on her way up the stairs, mind you. I just kind of kept going out of sheer momentum and turned the corner to the bedroom, only to see a squirrel making a mad circuit between the foot of the bed, the window, and the box at the foot of the bed. Unfortunately the cats seemed to notice the squirrel at about the same time I did, so what followed was a mad scramble as we each tried to grab a cat before things came to bloodshed.
Both cats shut up in the bathroom seemed to calm things down a little, but the squirrel was still making this scrambling circle around the room, deviating every now and again to knock a few things off the dresser. My first thought was to make sure it didn't look rabid, which it didn't just panicked. I'd be panicked too if I were a small furry animal trapped in a house with two cats. After a moment's thought I went downstairs and grabbed a wastebin, and Ginny got a big flat piece of artboard. I got the artboard down right in the spot on the foot of the bed where he kept pausing, but I was just too damn slow and every attempt to put the wastebasket on him resulted in a big circle around the whole damn room, knocking more things off the bookshelf. We got a towel, which made him scramble around even more. We stood around the foot of the bed, one with the basket, one with the towel, and still failed miserably. Then I got the bright idea of bait. I left Ginny upstairs with our houseguest and put peanut butter on a cracker, and we put that on the artboard. He was interested, but too panicked to make any attempt to eat it. We kept standing real still, giving him a hard time of seeing us, but he was just too damn fast and he wouldn't stay still more than five seconds. Finally, about fifteen minutes in, it occurred to me that he was spending the most time hanging between the window and the blinds (which we really didn't need replaced again due to squirrel damage, the cats are bad enough).
I edged around the box, got the screen off the window with Ginny's help, we opened the window, and zoom, he's gone. Easy as that.
Oh well, what do you want, I'm a Washington girl, we didn't see a lot of squirrels when I was a kid. Wrong kind of trees I guess.
Now the cats keep searching the bedroom for another exciting toy, hoping they can play with it before we take it away next time, and we still can't figure out where the hell it got in from. The only thing that even seems possible is in from under the sink in the kitchen, but that's downstairs. How he would have gotten all the way from there to the bedroom, without knocking over or nibbling anything else in the house is a mystery.
no subject
Date: Sep. 22nd, 2005 06:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Sep. 22nd, 2005 06:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Sep. 22nd, 2005 06:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Sep. 22nd, 2005 06:21 pm (UTC)Did you see the pic up on T.C.'s profile page, btw? That would be what I was up until 5:30 working on last night. Kind of appropriate, somehow. Also:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7352707164
no subject
Date: Sep. 22nd, 2005 06:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Sep. 22nd, 2005 06:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Sep. 22nd, 2005 06:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Sep. 22nd, 2005 07:03 pm (UTC)Knew I was forgetting something.
no subject
Date: Sep. 22nd, 2005 07:11 pm (UTC)