The Pony is concerned because he has been hearing noises in his attic. You may recall that last year, Hick and Old Buddy got up in The Pony's attic, left a squirrel trap, scattered shavings of Irish Spring soap, and patched up openings they thought might allow a squirrel to gain access. They did indeed catch a squirrel, which was no longer making noises when they found it due to its odor.
Then came the halcyon days, when The Pony could inhabit his habitat with no unwanted visitors upstairs. Well. Those days have ended. For a couple months, The Pony has mentioned hearing a squirrel in his attic again. He tells me, only because he has already told Hick, with no action forthcoming.
"The Pony says he's got a squirrel in the attic again."
"There cain't be. Old Buddy and me closed it up."
"But Pony hears the noises when he's taking a bath. Says it's over his bathroom."
"I'm not so sure he isn't just hearing noise from the jets in the tub. That's what I told him. Since he only hears it over the bathroom."
"I'd think The Pony would be able to tell the difference. He hasn't complained of attic noises until recently. And he's been taking baths all along."
"The Pony don't pay attention."
As if The Pony hasn't had enough trials lately, he now has this squirrel issue. Which Hick pooh-poohs like a naked man on a flip house porch denying wrongdoing to the police.
Hick has spent about two months dancing around The Pony's claim that he has a squirrel in the attic. He finally went over to Pony House this week, while The Pony was at work. Because Hick is carefull about getting on ladders these days, due to his back repair and dizziness when he tilts his head back, he sent Old Buddy up the ladder to look into the attic.
"You'll never guess what Old Buddy saw when he poked his head in The Pony's attic!
A SQUIRREL!"
"I could have guessed that."
"It was a squirrel sitting on a nest in a dark corner, looking right back at him. Old Buddy hollered at it and acted like he was throwing something, but that squirrel just sat there and stared at him. I think it was tryin' to have babies. Old Buddy got a stick and started poking at it, and it run off. We moved that strobe light thing I'd put up there, from over the main part of the house to the area over the bathroom. We cleaned out the nest. Then sealed up a little hole about the size of a quarter."
"If it can get its head in, it can get through!"
"Not now. We had to take off a section of siding to look in there and get to the nest. That's when we found the hole. Now it's all sealed up. Hopefully that squirrel ran out and can't get back in. Oh, and we found a hole in the top of The Pony's closet, in the bathroom, where a squirrel had chewed through the drywall. I'll have to patch that."
Well. The Pony said he heard noises again a day or two later. Hick said on Thursday that he'd been to Lowe's, Menards, Tractor Supply, and the Family Center. And that there's no such thing as squirrel spray. That they hate mothballs. So he's going to scatter a bunch of mothballs in The Pony's attic.
"So wait. You got this information from hourly workers at those stores? Did you ever think of maybe GETTING AN EXTERMINATOR who does that kind of work for a living? Like when I told you to do that last year?"
"Val. There's no spray for squirrels. What's an exterminator going to do?"
"Um. GET RID OF THE SQUIRRELS? Because that's what you pay them to do? And they do it for a living?"
"These mothballs oughta work."
Here we go again. The Pony might as well call an exterminator on his own. But he believes in Hick. Moderately. He hasn't been exposed to Hick's tactics as long as Val.
Squirrels are part of the rodent family, so rat bait would work. If you want to see theat the squirrel has et its end, use sticky boards, but not the small ones. Use the ones for snakes. Or ... send your little Jack up there to chase and catch it!
ReplyDeleteHick later said he left some poison up there. Didn't say what kind. The Pony lamented that he didn't really want to kill the squirrel, but at this point it deserves to die. I guess the closet ceiling was the catalyst.
DeleteHick had also said that one of his buddies said to put down the sticky traps. I said, "They'd probably just chew their feet off. No need to make them suffer. Just die!" He mainly wants to get them out, and hopefully STAY out. That's his mothball and strobe light tactic.
Little Jack is great at catching rabbits. Then neighbor big dog Copper Jack takes them away from him. Little Jack chases squirrels, but they quickly ascend out of reach on the porch rail or the trees. He's a sturdy little dog (that's his heeler half), and might come crashing through The Pony's ceiling!
Moth balls fumes are toxic! A friend wanted to store things in a room upstairs in my house. She brought the things in January. Around March the fumes came into my bedroom which was under the room she used. She did not tell me about the mothballs. By the time I knew about it, she was in Yemen. We are no longer friends. Pony will smell those mothballs like they are in the room with him.
ReplyDeleteI will caution Hick about using this strategy.
DeleteMy oh my. You'd think a young fellow with a college degree, was it CHEMICAL ENGINEERING(?), could have come up with a solution to his squirrel problem himself. But, of course, Hick is always standing by to help. In time.
ReplyDeleteWhile he's at it, The Pony might as well come up with a way to turn squirrel carcasses into gold!!!
DeleteSend this to The Pony, he'll read it and hire his own exterminator and hopefully the holes will get patched up before the next squirrel invasion.
ReplyDeleteI just talked to The Pony. He has not heard the squirrel at all today, or yesterday. Maybe it moved out, but more likely it feasted on Hick's poison. I'm going to tell Hick to go by and check to see if it's in the attic. It will have to be on Monday, when Hick has Old Buddy to do the ladder-climbing.
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