Sunday, December 9, 2007

Flying Squirrels Part Deux: the colony fights back

Okay, so this story is old but I figured I needed something amusing to write about. Last Friday, I helped out my friend and we were walking around the house when she kept noticing things out of place. Like "that bucket has been turned over," "that lamp has been unplugged," and "I remember I neatly piled the stack of papers." This quickly turned into several thoughts "ghosts" or a "break-in" (yes, we went for the less plausible one first). Shrugging, we turned to the work at hand when I noticed movement a few feet away. Out popped a little squirrel from under a chair. Not wanting to freak out my friend, I just said to her in a firm voice "here, you need to come with me" and we left the room, closing the door behind us.

A wee flying squirrel had returned to the scene of the crime. I ducked back in the room to get my purse, coat, and her cell phone. On my second foray, despite all the noises I made, it was scrambling across the table toward me. I quickly shut the door and started to laugh. My friend tells me after the fact that the squirrel wrangler (well, the trapper) had told her that this particular breed are very sociable, nosy creatures. They walk toward sound instead of away from it.

So, I took off since there was nothing else I could do. The wrangler showed up. My friend called me later to say that the critter had been easily captured. In fact, the wrangler walked up to it on the second floor and it climbed into his gloves -- I'm not kidding. He theorized that it had been left over from the previous invasions and since they had sealed up the house so well, the poor thing couldn't find its way out. When we arrived, it was like "thank God, maybe these people can give me directions! Why are they shutting the door? Why are they laughing at me?" All of the curtains on the windows had been slightly parted as the squirrel stared out to the nature it couldn't get to. I have named it "Emily Dickinson."

I also like to imagine the rest of the colony coming up with plans to spring their family member.

5 comments:

C. Margery Kempe said...

Cue The Great Escape theme! I love the idea of the little squirrels working on their tiny passports and civilian clothes, practicing human phrases: "I am traveling to Springfield on business" or "I teach beginning Italian." It is Em's birthday today, too.

Wow -- you have the best adventures! I was struck by the lack of flying squirrels in my life until I read,

this particular breed are very sociable, nosy creatures. They walk toward sound instead of away from it.

Didn't the same thing happen to the Dodo?

Gene Kannenberg, Jr. said...

Wow, having sociable squirrels sounds a lot cooler than being infested by bats, like my cousins' house was back when we were kids. Nothing against bats per se, but having them land in your hair while you're sleeping would tend to freak out even the most bat-loving people, I'd bet.

Wendy said...

Kate: yes, they are rather cute creatures. "My hovercraft if full of eels" eh?? May you have all the squirrels that you want in your life.

Gene: um, I do like bats, but them landing on my while I sleep is a nature no-no. I tolerate such animals but once they invade the bed (except for cats -- most of the time), they have forfeited the life. That's my philosophy on spiders, btw.

CL said...

Oooooh! Squirrels! If only Wendy O. was still alive! She would swoop in and gather up the little dickens and take them home and make pets out of them.

Punk rock queen and squirrel lover...that would have been on her gravestone...if she had one.

C. Margery Kempe said...

Wendy O is everywhere -- all the trees know her name, all the grass bends in her passing and the rocks? Well, the rocks rock, of course!