Leaves and the Varmint

It has proven to be a beautiful fall in Northern Virginia. Oh sure, we did not get to to head to the mountains or even the local parks to enjoy the leaves at their peak because it rained practically every weekend in October, but we could enjoy them through the week while en route to work or other locations. The leaves are much more beautiful ON the trees than trying to bag them up after they have fallen...unless of course you are Anna who had a great time jumping in leaf piles. We can only hope her enthusiasm for raking leaves will carry into later years when she is big enough to actually participate in the raking and bagging.

While there are many lovely things about fall....the changing leaves, the crisp chill in the air, apple picking, fall holidays....there are some not so lovely things. One of the more unpleasant items is animals seeking shelter for the winter. In this case the shelter is our house and the animal is a squirrel (we think).

Last week, Joe awoke around 1 AM saying "do you hear that?" Theresa was convinced it was simply acorns pelting the roof thanks to Tropical Storm Ida. It soon became apparent that Joe was correct as the sound of gnawing and scratching could be heard coming from not the roof but the bedroom/closet wall. The next 3 hours were spent with Joe pounding the wall, turning on lights, planning varmint extraction possibilities and finally in a last ditch effort at 3:30 AM - Theresa playing jazz music in the closet hoping that the varmint would go to sleep so that everyone else could go to sleep. No luck and finally Joe and Theresa evacuated to another room for a few hours of sleep as the squirrel party continued in the wall.

The next night was quieter. After an intense research effort with the help of google, Joe decided that he would need to put a hole in the wall to extract the varmint. Theresa - having seen National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation several times -- thought perhaps it would be better to wait until the varmint expired or risk something loose in the house. For now, the wall remains intact and the noises continue to get quieter. In the meantime, we hope he is alone.