A Little Light

I took Buster #3 down to Cindy yesterday. If I had thought to take a camera I might have gotten a good picture after Cindy transfered it to a larger cage. It put on quite a display, bouncing around, looking for a way out, giving my friend, Genie, her first look at a flying squirrel.

I'm not sure what The Mister will want to do now but I don't really want to move anymore flyers in the hope that there are still some around to take up residence in a box next year.

Meanwhile after a long night of gale force winds the temperature has dropped. This morning while it feels more like winter it doesn't feel like the solstice is only a week away.  

The only irrefutable sign of the season is the length of day. 

I've never minded the shorter days this time of year, at least not at the beginning of winter. I welcome the excuse to burn candles in the evening including some true bayberry tapers made by my neighbor, Tom Helsher and always, always, burned to the socket.

Buster #2

We've had more nighttime noise in the attic recently so I reset two traps. I didn't expect any success after finding the traps closed with no quarry on several previous tries and I certainly didn't expect another flyer but that's what we caught last night shortly after midnight.

In the spring when we repair the vents I'd like to put up a flying squirrel house. I found plans for one along with a lot of other information at FlyingSquirrels.com. Thank you Steve Patterson!

Buster!!

Buster, October 17, 2011

The saga continues. I suspect that Buster returned to see if the red squirrels were still occupying the attic, to see if the attic was going to be available for the winter. Cindy will keep it in her barn for a few days and then let it come and go, eventually deciding for itself whether or not to join the other flyers on and around the farm.

I'm not sure what we'll do now and Cindy says it's up to us. We don't want red squirrels in the attic for any length of time but as it gets colder the flyers are at risk if they're stuck in a trap for long. I guess we'll keep the traps going for a couple of weeks and then see where things stand. I just wish we could get the red male...

Not Buster

I'm not at all sure how I feel about this but the squirrels we're currently removing are NOT flyers after all, they're just some of the troublesome red squirrels. I don't know what happened to the flying squirrels that were in the attic last winter, I don't know if they left of their own accord or if the more aggressive red squirrels drove them off but none of the squirrels we've trapped in this week (now five) were Buster.

I didn't really look in the traps Thursday for fear of disturbing them but Cindy told me Friday and when I took a close look at the next capture I saw it was indeed a red.

Still neither The Mister nor I will forget watching Buster glide from the top of one chair to another one evening last winter before we ushered him/her out the front door. I hope there are flying squirrels gliding around somewhere nearby and I get to see one again.

Meanwhile I haven't checked the attic this morning but we will continue to trap what we can until spring when we'll remove the end-wall of the closet and critter-proof the vents.

Page Wildlife Center

I just can't believe the flyers squirrels stayed in the attic through all the roofing and I can't understand why I didn't trap any for a week or more and then yesterday, two! This morning I heard noises while I was still in bed and when I went up to check there were two what-look-to-be youngsters eating the seed that's scattered around the trap. This may take a while...

At least it seems flyers are a favorite of rehabilitators including Cindy Page and she will be eventually releasing these squirrels on her beautiful farm near Delphi Falls. Thank you Cindy and all the other dedicated people who do this kind of thing.

As for the attic, I don't think the squirrels are showing up in the traps because the they can no longer get out. I'm embarrassed to admit it but I think I finally figured out the most obvious entry point yesterday.

I had been focused on the driveway end of the house because of the dilapidated chimney. I knew the screen on the vent next to it had rusted away but the chimney ran inside the house and there wasn't purchase for critters to get to that vent. I completely overlooked the fact that the situation at the other end is an entirely different matter.

Unfortunately previous owners built a simple but useful closet at the other end of the attic and in doing so they eliminated human access to the two vents on either side of the fireplace chimney, the chimney that runs on the outside of the house giving the flyers an excellent climbing surface. It's one of those features of, as people often point out, an Amityville Horror House.

Buster's Back?

WR&E

Damn. I was trying to beat the rain yesterday and didn't check the traps before I scrambled out to the garden. Since the work started on the roof I'd had two traps set in the attic but when the days passed with no sign of the squirrels I'd figured they had moved on. Anyway this morning I found a squirrel in one of the traps and I don't know how long the poor thing has been in there. He seems okay and now I'm just hoping I can keep him alive until I can get him to the rehabilitator this afternoon. Damn.

Fenced Garden Plan 2011

While I was curled up under a quilt yesterday, trying to keep the thermostat low so my mucous membranes wouldn't turn to dust during the 24 hours of frigid temps, I started going through seed catalogs. I quickly discovered that some seeds have already sold out for the season. I decided it was time to get the garden plotted.

I think this year I will resize the beds. I originally planned to use landscaping timbers to contain the beds but I never found what I wanted at a reasonable price. At this point I think inexpensive, rough-cut boards will be just fine and the smaller dimensions will make it possible to add another bed on each side.

Now I'm just hoping that the spring weather will give me a chance to get the prep work done in time to do an early planting of favas, rapa, radishes and such.

Meanwhile the flying squirrel made another appearance downstairs a couple weeks ago. It found the sunflower seed jug and I was able to get very close and watch it before I finally scooped it up into the jug and took it back to the attic. Now I'm leaving some seeds in the attic in the hope that the squirrels will be more likely to stay up there until spring. I can see the last years of my life looking like a scene from "Grey Gardens".

The problem is that I know the last dog we had would have torn the house apart if a squirrel had gotten in so we haven't gone any further in adopting a dog. I'm so disappointed that I haven't even been able to check the website to see if Candy is still available.

2/14 Candy was adopted a week ago. I hope she has a wonderful new home.

Cheap Entertainment on Two Acres

photo by Linsey Boland

A Conversation with Flying Squirrel Foster Peggy Popp

Sunday night I dozed off in front of the fire to be awakened shortly after midnight by a flying squirrel doing laps around the downstairs. I went up to bed but slept with one ear/eye open so to speak.

Last night as we were about to eat dinner the little critter reappeared, still looking for a way out. Actually it was more fun than we'd had in awhile and after a few rounds we were finally able to shoo it out the front door. They are cute but I hope they stay in the attic until spring when we can get someone up on the roof to work on the chimneys.