“We call this a fine mess of squirrels.”
The windows are all open. The air is warm and smells of spring. I sat on the deck for a long while, drank my coffee and finished reading the papers. I had to drag myself inside when the phone rang. I’ll be quick here then I’m going back outside to fight with Gracie for the lounge.
Every day this week will be in the high 60’s, a heat wave for spring on Cape Cod.
I heard a grinding noise this morning, ran to the window and saw a squirrel gnawing at the paint on my deck furniture. He did the same last year. The beast has gnawed to the metal below the black paint. The arms and feet of the chairs have silver teeth marks and are rough to the touch. This morning he was at the rim of the table, a new spot. I’m going to have to hire Skip, my factotum, to sand the rough spots and paint over them. For now, the chairs are leaning up against the table. Granny Clampett would be a welcome visitor. She cooked a great squirrel stew.
Part of the fun of traveling is the unknown. I have eaten strange, exotic foods. I’ll try almost anything and don’t always ask what I’m eating. Half the time I probably wouldn’t want to know anyway. If it tastes good, that’s enough, but I’m drawing a line at squirrel stew, even with lots of vegetables and gravy.
Today I am short winded. I have been too long inside the house. The bird feeder’s need filling and my book is getting interesting. I’m taking all the sun time I can.
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keepthecoffeecoming.blog 
May 4, 2010 at 1:56 pm
The weather is quite the opposite over here and will stay so for the rest of the week. But we did get a bit of sunshine when we were out walking in the forest. I saw a squirrel and though of You immediatly 🙂 🙂
Strange beahviour gnawing away the paint like that! I wonder if the paint tastes nice for it? Why not sprinkle white pepper over the furnitures when You go to bed tonight? and continue to do so for a couple of weeks. It worked great on one of my dogs when she started to eat all my food in the refridgerator long ago. Perhaps sprinkle some water on the furnitures first so the pepper sticks to them.
I think people would burn down my home if I even joked about eating squirrel 🙂 🙂 🙂 We have a tendency to love them a lot 🙂
Have a great day now!
Christer.
May 4, 2010 at 10:57 pm
Christer,
It is nearly 11 o’clock, and the windows are still open-it’s cooler but not cold. Amazing weather for us this early in the spring.
He gnaws on places where the pepper wouldn’t stay-like curves on the arms and legs. That beast has been really destructive.
“They are rats in better coats.”
Squirrels at the park are just fine-the ones chewing furniture and bird feeders are not.
May 5, 2010 at 5:17 am
Just in case: http://www.backwoodsbound.com/zsquir.html
Cheers
May 5, 2010 at 9:21 am
Minicapt,
I think I’m partial to the Squirrel Jambalaya.
May 4, 2010 at 3:07 pm
damn squirrels. they bit off all the lights i had on my deck..they looked too much like strawberries
i should have kept them plugged in…they also
nabbed all my prayer flags to line their nest with
which makes a heck of alot more sense than trying
to eat glass light bulbs….
May 4, 2010 at 10:59 pm
greg,
They left my prayer flags alone but ate all of the white on the inside of the barbecue cover. They pulled it off for their nests.
They’ll eat anything.
May 4, 2010 at 5:50 pm
Funny you write about squirrels, I have a opossum digging up my new laid mulch overnight. I paid a fortune for it to get it thick and done right and now the raccoons or opossums are taking over. Can’t for the life of me figure out what is attracking them. The trap goes out tonight though I’m serving left over spaghetti to the varmits and salad with the berries thrown in for good measure. I’ve already called Animal Control. I wish I could send you some of our sunshine. These hot days here are too early for our hundred degree summer weather. We usually get past May with cooler temps. Today 99!
May 4, 2010 at 11:06 pm
Z&Me,
We had a perfectly delightful day today which did get dark and cloudy but not until late in the afternoon. I think it is still warm and still have windows open downstairs.
I had tomatoes on the deck last year, and that possum was on the deck almost every night. It drove Gracie crazy. One weekend I went away, came home and went to water the tomatoes. They were gone and the possum was too.
May 4, 2010 at 8:28 pm
And we shall see what we get gnawing at what once we get some landscaping in. Somehow I have a feeling squirrels will be the least of our problems. But eating at paint? That’s a weird one. You could just let them keep it up until they all died of poisoning…
May 4, 2010 at 11:08 pm
Ralph,
I had the occasional squirrel gnawing on a feeder to get at the seed, but none of them ever did anything to the house or furniture before last summer when it all started. I would have bet that beast would have died over the winter. It was quite a shock when I saw the furniture then heard him gnawing. It is really weird.
May 5, 2010 at 8:34 am
When I had a Jack Russell Terrier, I didn’t have much trouble with squirrels. She was like stealth terrier on the kill and they learned to avoid the yard. My new dog is too sweet (or maybe a little bit dumb) to go after them. He just watches.
It sounds like there is something in the paint base that’s attracting that particular little bugger. Perhaps you could make a paste of flour and hot pepper sauce or flour, water and a lot of hot pepper flakes? It might stay on the curves of the furniture a little better. Of course it might eat through the furniture, too.
May 5, 2010 at 9:14 am
Caryn,
Gracie chases them too but this bugger shows up at night or in the early morning when the deck is empty.
I’d give the paste a try but I’d have to wash them every time I wanted to use them. The chairs piled against the table keep him from all but the bottom so I’ll keep trying that for a bit.
May 8, 2010 at 11:14 pm
Hi Kat,
When your Blogger blog disappeared from my Bloglines, I assumed you’d fallen victim to the copyright police. Then I just saw a comment on another blog saying the writer had been led there by “Keep the Coffee Coming”. A quick Google, and I’m happy to find you’re still online here. Keep it up!
May 9, 2010 at 12:22 am
PB,
I had fallen victim just as you suspected, done in by Blogger, but I decided to pick up and move. This has been my new address for about a month and a half. It looks a bit different but the rest, the music, pictures and I, are the same.
Welcome back!!