My Man, Danger, & the Wild

WOW- two posts in one day! I'm trying to catch up while I can!

In the past week to two weeks we have dealt with squirrels AND birds in the space between our roof and ceiling. We have no attic because we have vaulted ceiling. One day I was sitting in our guest room/ office, on the computer and I was hearing some little claws scratching and walking on the ceiling. I knew it was too big to be mice so I was assuming it was a squirrel because we have seen a squirrel go on our roof many times.

I was then leaving the house later that day, and I saw with my own eyes that it in fact was a squirrel and I saw where he was getting in at. So when Jeff got home that evening he went up and boarded up the hole. The next day I heard more scratching. I thought, "Oh no, there are babies!" Well I definitely did not want them dying up there because I did not want to smell them, so over lunch Jeff went back up and removed the board.

I then looked up on the Internet on how to get rid of squirrels. Some of the things mentioned were, traps - the problem...if their were babies, it did no good to trap the mama, fox urine - the problem...not that easy to get and didn't want my house to smell like urine!, moth balls, Ah Ha! something that was cheap and easy to get. The person who recommended this, said that the same ingredient found in bat and squirrel repellent is the same thing in moth balls. So we headed to K-mart and they were on clearance! The box did warn that it was not for getting rid of bats and squirrels, but we decided for $2.50 we would try it any way. (I do need to add that Jeff kept wanting to smoke them out! I'm sure that fine idea would have worked but could you really imagine him building a fire on my roof so he could smoke out a squirrel! I could just see the whole house burning down, and we'd still have squirrel problems!)

By mid-afternoon of the next day I heard no more squirrels in my ceiling. Not sure what exactly happened...my sis mentioned maybe the mothballs killed them. I personally think that boarding up the hole scared the mama and she just naturally moved her babies away from the "crazy man" on the roof.

After the whole drama of squirrel was done, Jeff started hearing birds in the ceiling over our master bath! He then went out and boarded up that hole, while I was still in bed. (Which I'm glad I didn't know what he was doing at the time...which you will see why further on down!) The next few mornings I was awaken by a banging noise. I wanted to yell at my kids and tell them to be quiet so early in the morning. Jeff then informed that it was the birds trying to get back in!

Then this morning, hearing them again, I was sure that they had found a way back into our home. So Jeff drags out his ladders and his homemade contraption so he could "check" on these birds. I was about ready to have a heart attack right there. Being the loving wife I am, I kept telling him how stupid this was and he shouldn't do it, and what good would it do if he died because I would still have birds in my ceiling!!!

He was going up anyway, and by that time there was a small crowd gathering. All I could say was, you need to pray that there are angels around your daddy! I then decided, since he was going to do this I might as well take pictures...and in my sick mind I actually thought, "If he falls, maybe I will get a picture of him in mid-air!" I am happy to say that there were angels around him and he made it safely back down to the ground, AND the birds weren't back in our ceiling!

Pictures: 1) The hole the squirrels were getting in. 2) My man boarding up that hole. 3) My man and DANGER...please note the two separate ladders and the homemade contraption! 4) The small crowd, Preston and Tanner.

UPDATE about me from It's Been a While - My MRI is scheduled for Monday the 22nd at 3:15, so please continue praying that there it is nothing serious and for peace in my mind and body.