The squirrel has left the basement

Finally!

For the last few days, our basement has been inhabited by a rabid squirrel (note: the squirrel actually being "rabid" has not been independently verified but we're sure that's why he was hissing at us!).

The squirrel saga began only a few days ago when we heard noises coming from our supposedly empty basement (both Jenny and I at one point thought that someone was in our basement!). On Saturday morning Jenny entered the basement only to find that something had raided her flour, sugar, popcorn, and rice (Jenny was so angry she started to turn green and to grow in size... Jenny Hulk... I wish I could have snapped a picture for you!)! As she tried to figure out what had happened, some thing scurried along the piping above her head. And that's when she first cited our squatting squirrel.

(notice the small dark spot just above the flour... that's a puddle of pee)

The animal shelters were closed and we weren't able to reach our landlord. What were we to do? We removed the remaining food, hoping that his hunger would drive him out of the basement via the way he got in (we have one spot where we guess he maybe could have somehow got in... but we're not sure).

By Sunday night, he hadn't left. We think he was getting desperate. Plastic was getting chewed on, there was scratching at the door leading to our kitchen, and there was poop everywhere!

(yes he was trying to eat this, and yes those are little pieces of poop littered around it)

With the help of Melissa, I (being Jace) pressed the squirrel into a corner (though he was hissing and cussing at me) and opened a small window in the basement (don't ask why we didn't do this sooner!). We then placed a trail of bread crumbs from the window ledge out into the backyard. The bait was set. All we could do was wait and watch.

Monday morning. Upon awaking, I made my way to basement. Had he gone? Did he take the bait? No. The window was wide open, the bread still sitting there, and a hissing squirrel remained perched upon our pipes. Okay, seriously. We're starting to get desperate.

Desperate situations call for desperate measures. Which of course means we turned to Google to help us figure out what to do.

(come on Google, don't fail us now)

Ahh.. Google provided the answer: sunflower seeds. Apparently squirrels love them (tuck that tid-bit away, in case you ever have a squirrel invasion). As it happened, Jenny had some sunflower seeds at hand, so we made a little mound of them outside the window and made a trail leading to the backyard (a.k.a. squirrel freedom).

I kid you not, it took less than five minutes. I happened to be sitting by a window when I saw the squirrel emerge from the basement, cheeks full of seeds.  I flew to the basement and slamed the window shut! Phew!!

(Jenny snapped this great shot of the actual squirrel vacating our premises)

Adventure over. Our collected losses: a few supplies (when all was said and done, about two bags of flour, a bag of sugar, a bag of popcorn, a bag of rice, and a box of tea) and a few messes to clean up (besides the food, there were little droppings of poop and a few puddles of pee).

Upon further meditation, I think it was worth it though. It turned out to be worshipful, in its own way, as we were given a chance to exercise our God-given authority, to "have dominion over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth". Score one for God and the good guys!!

But though the adventure is over, the case is not closed. Questions remain. How did the squirrel get  in our basement? And since we haven't figured that out and there then remains a way for him to get back in, does that mean he'll be back?

To be continued???