Team Casey Vs. Mother Squirrel - Round 597

Sigh. I swear this kind of stuff only happens to us. So, as you know from Friday's post, there was sad, sad evidence that Mother Squirrel had attempted to enlarge her nest in our wall by adding on into Michael's room. I really didn't want to come into Michael's room Saturday morning to find her and my son snuggled up together under his dino quilt, so I did two things:

1. had Matthew and Michael have a sleepover in Matthew's room, and

2. put about ten pieces of duct tape over the hole Mother Squirrel had made in Michael's drywall. Yes, Karen (hi Karen!), perhaps that wouldn't have stopped her, but I don't mind living in my dream world away from the fears of burrowing rodents infesting my home (too late).

Early Saturday morning, Alan was convinced that he had seen Mother Squirrel's head popping out of the siding side of the hole. Perhaps taking in a bit of the crisp morning air? So, we pulled out the Tried and True Method of Squirrel Removal: Alan goes out to the driveway with the shotgun and I go beat on the wall above the hole to try to scare her out. This is how we permanently removed the first squirrel that moved into the hole earlier this winter. Squirrel Number Two, however, is a bit more crafty, and she's eluded us to date. So, I go to Michael's room to beat on the wall right above where she created the hole that comes into the room. After all, this is where she is nesting, right? Unfortunately, as can be seen from the picture below, she had chewed quite a bit larger hole in the blue hardish styrofoam insulation than we had anticipated. And instead of just frightening her from her nest, I actually just popped another hole in the drywall with my fist. Nice. More sighs.

Fortunately for us, we have The Nicest Brother-in-Law In The World (hi Karen's Dave!) who had already made arrangements to come out and help us replace the squirrel damaged siding. Which was, by the way, three stories up. He also happens to be very handy with drywall. He ended up pulling two of the siding boards down - the boards had been split from the holes. After he pulled the boards down, he could see that the hole in the hardish blue styrofoam insulation was about 18 inches in diameter. In case you didn't catch that, I said EIGHTEEN INCHES IN DIAMETER. Gracious.

So, as it stand now, we no longer have a hole from the outside leading into our home. Well, on that side of the house. On the other side of the house, we have her other hole, but this one leads into the attic, so we were able to patch that from the inside with flashing. The holes in Michael's walls still haven't been repaired, but that will happen as Dave has time. As life would have it, Alan and I have decided to bite the bullet and go ahead and get vinyl siding for our home. Wow. Some serious expense. Crazy Man last week said he could put siding and new windows - don't get me started about the 30+-year-old, wooden, painted-shut windows we have - for the grand price of $34, 000. We are, by the way, getting other, more reasonable quotes. This is Year Two of Squirrel Infestation, and I don't think this is an issue that's just going to go away. Plus, our siding is in terrible shape, as you can probably tell from the picture above. Lesson learned: when choosing a home, remember that living in the woods in a rustic home comes with a price: you will not be living alone.