It really was a squirrel

Many of you have heard that we’ve been dealing with a bit of a mouse problem. There is/was a soffit running around the perimeter of our basement which we discovered has essentially been a mouse condo. Greg has been working at taking down the soffit little by little. The good news is that we’ve now been an entire week without a new mouse. But, as you can see, it was not a rodent free week. 

Last Saturday, I heard Greg laughing the laugh of a slightly insane person from the basement. When he finally spoke, he said he had seen a squirrel. We got the cats out, and he spent some time trying to root out the new rodent, to no avail. Sunday, there was no sign of our latest visitor, and Greg began to second guess himself. He thought maybe it was Ziggy’s tail instead. He had not seen the face. 

Monday, I was on the elliptical in the basement, and I heard a terrible clatter coming from the wall near the boiler closet. I finished up my workout, and Greg suited up to investigate. We found our squirrel, who had been stuck in the wall, and injured himself. Thankfully, he was in the boiler closet, which allowed Greg a contained space in which to finally trap him. 

As you can see, Greg does not mess around when it comes to safety precautions. He brought the squirrel outside once he was contained, and released him in the bak yard. Unfortunately for the squirrel, he is still in the same spot where Greg left him. But I can’t feel that bad. He was a rodent, and he was in. my. house. 

As for the soffits, here’s a few shots of how they are looking these days. 

Greg has since pulled down the ceiling tiles, so we have a little ceiling refinishing in our future. 

Somewhere above this wall is where we think the mice have been getting in. Greg did his best to plug the hole, at least temporarily. 

This is what the soffits look like before demolition. There is just one portion left that needs to come down. And someday, there is going to be a lot of priming and painting of paneling going on down here. 

Comments transferred from previous blog:

VP

Oh, the adventures you have. Amazing!

Saturday, February 12, 2011 - 06:04 PM

CHRISTINE

Whoa... Insane! Just insane.

Sunday, February 13, 2011 - 12:28 PM