Week 23 - With Squirrels Like These, Who Needs Nemeses?
I know I normally give you all a rundown of baby stuff, things that happened to me this week, etc... but something more important has occurred, and obviously that is much more important than the further development of my first-born child.
Of course, what happened to me this week was not a random happenstance, but has been building up to this, the climax, for... probably several years now. One could almost say this all started when I first moved to Hawaii almost five years ago.
There are many different flora and fauna-related idiosyncrasies about Hawaii. One that I particularly loved, for instance, is that there are no wild snakes on the islands. Snakes aren't indigenous to the area, and they are very careful about making sure that people don't bring in plants or animals that they aren't supposed to, so I imagine the only snakes on the islands are pets? If even that. Anyway, the fact that I could go hiking in the woods without worrying about snakes falling from trees onto my head (True Story) was one of the many things I loved about Hawaii.
Another quirk about Hawaii is that there are also no squirrels. Most people actually didn't care, or were glad the squirrels were gone. It always made for fun trips to the mainland, when children (or teenagers) who haven't seen squirrels in years (or ever) saw one. Lots of squealing and/or chasing. Great fun for the whole family!
So when I married Isaiah and we decided a few months later that we needed to move to Indiana, one of the things I was looking forward to was seeing squirrels again. I know, that's weird, but there's not that many perks to moving from Hawaii to Indiana at the start of winter. And I love squirrels. We moved, and we discovered that our apartment complex boasts a whole host of squirrels that live nearby and love to climb on the roofs and balconies of the apartments, particularly those near trees. In the courtyard behind our apartment building, there is one big tree that I imagine all the squirrels and annoying little chirpy birds live in.
For a while, we lived in a happy peace. I mean, most of the time the squirrels were hibernating, and I didn't see many of them. But I saw a few, and they made me happy inside (and outside, my husband would often laugh when I expressed elation at seeing squirrels around). And so we existed together, the squirrels and I.
On Sunday, I received a beautiful pot of flowers from my mother-in-law, who had suggested I place them on my balcony and grow them. I loved those flowers, and indeed did place them on my balcony, as that was the most logical place for them to be (it's the only part of outside I have control over in my apartment, and it gets enough sun (and when it rains, rain) to help keep the flowers alive and blooming). I even joked to my mother once I had gotten them set up that perhaps I would even be more successful in growing porch plants than she had been (my mother has a history of putting potted plants on the back porch and then forgetting they're there, leading to their inevitable death by drought). The weather has been warming up the past month and it's reached a point where sitting on the balcony in the evenings would be a wonderful way to spend the time. It was going to be wonderful, and my beautiful flowers would be the focal point of the whole thing.
All went well, and I was tickled pink on Tuesday afternoon when I caught a glimpse of a squirrel laying in the shade of my balcony, presumably seeking shelter from the afternoon sun. I even managed to get a picture, posting on Instagram how happy I was to see my cute lil' squirrel buddy.
It was adorable, but nefarious. Little did I know that while hiding from the afternoon sun, my lil' squirrel buddy (let's name him Puck), was also doing Super Secret Reconnaissance on my flower pot, using the reflection in the glass door to make him appear as though he were doing nothing more innocent than enjoying some afternoon shade. Who could suspect a squirrel of anything more? Clearly not I.
WELL I WAS WRONG. I WAS FOOLED. NAY, EVEN BETRAYED! Puck, my cute lil' squirrel buddy, had decided that my flower pot was the perfect hiding place for his nut! I found him later that evening after dinner, rapidly digging through my flower pot, ready to place his nut inside so that he could enjoy a meal later! WELL NOT ON MY WATCH, PUCK. I raced out there, ready to defend my poor, innocent, helpless flowers (but not before taking a picture, because I needed to record PROOF), and Puck saw me coming, jumped three feet in the air, and skedaddled, nut in his hands. He fled from my wrath like my younger siblings also fled from my wrath when they broke my things.
I knew Puck's retreat wouldn't last forever. He probably considered my balcony his property now. He made a few attempts to come back later that evening, but I continued to spot him and chase him away each time he got to close to my poor flowers. However, night soon fell, and I needed to sleep.
I awoke Wednesday morning to find a giant tuft of flowers on the balcony floor by the flower pot, and dirt thrown around. I did my best to replant the flowers, and went on with my day. I continued to drive Puck away whenever he stopped by, but he didn't seem much interesting in digging up the flowers as much as nibbling them? Either way, I'd rather he didn't.
Anyway, Puck and I have pretty much made peace now. There's pretty much nothing I can do about him-
But, Carina! There's squirrel traps you could use!
Anyway, there's pretty much nothing I can do about Puck. A squirrel trap wouldn't work, as right now, the literal only thing on my balcony is the flower pot, and Puck is intelligent and wouldn't touch it, and also what would I do with him once I trapped him??? Like I said, nothing to be done about Puck, but we shall live in peace and harmony together, like when Avatar Aang brought balance to the bending world. Aang wouldn't want me to deny Puck his place in nature.
Also, not only is there pretty much nothing I can do about Puck, I also have no intention of doing anything about Puck other than complain about him and write blog posts and the occasional post on social media. We've reached a good standstill, Puck and I. Yeah, he may have destroyed some of my flowers, but my flower pot was overflowing anyway, and he spared me the agonizing process of deciding which flowers I needed to thin out.
Anyway, I love Puck, he is evil and conniving, and he's also super adorable when I surprise him by whacking the back door and he does a little startled jump. I'm still going to try and keep my flowers alive for as long as possible, but I guess I'll just have to do it with Puck's "help." Should be good practice for when my own daughter wants to "help" me do housework.
she'll read this when she's a teenager and get really upset her mother thought squirrels were more important to blog about than her
Of course, what happened to me this week was not a random happenstance, but has been building up to this, the climax, for... probably several years now. One could almost say this all started when I first moved to Hawaii almost five years ago.
There are many different flora and fauna-related idiosyncrasies about Hawaii. One that I particularly loved, for instance, is that there are no wild snakes on the islands. Snakes aren't indigenous to the area, and they are very careful about making sure that people don't bring in plants or animals that they aren't supposed to, so I imagine the only snakes on the islands are pets? If even that. Anyway, the fact that I could go hiking in the woods without worrying about snakes falling from trees onto my head (True Story) was one of the many things I loved about Hawaii.
Another quirk about Hawaii is that there are also no squirrels. Most people actually didn't care, or were glad the squirrels were gone. It always made for fun trips to the mainland, when children (or teenagers) who haven't seen squirrels in years (or ever) saw one. Lots of squealing and/or chasing. Great fun for the whole family!
So when I married Isaiah and we decided a few months later that we needed to move to Indiana, one of the things I was looking forward to was seeing squirrels again. I know, that's weird, but there's not that many perks to moving from Hawaii to Indiana at the start of winter. And I love squirrels. We moved, and we discovered that our apartment complex boasts a whole host of squirrels that live nearby and love to climb on the roofs and balconies of the apartments, particularly those near trees. In the courtyard behind our apartment building, there is one big tree that I imagine all the squirrels and annoying little chirpy birds live in.
For a while, we lived in a happy peace. I mean, most of the time the squirrels were hibernating, and I didn't see many of them. But I saw a few, and they made me happy inside (and outside, my husband would often laugh when I expressed elation at seeing squirrels around). And so we existed together, the squirrels and I.
On Sunday, I received a beautiful pot of flowers from my mother-in-law, who had suggested I place them on my balcony and grow them. I loved those flowers, and indeed did place them on my balcony, as that was the most logical place for them to be (it's the only part of outside I have control over in my apartment, and it gets enough sun (and when it rains, rain) to help keep the flowers alive and blooming). I even joked to my mother once I had gotten them set up that perhaps I would even be more successful in growing porch plants than she had been (my mother has a history of putting potted plants on the back porch and then forgetting they're there, leading to their inevitable death by drought). The weather has been warming up the past month and it's reached a point where sitting on the balcony in the evenings would be a wonderful way to spend the time. It was going to be wonderful, and my beautiful flowers would be the focal point of the whole thing.
All went well, and I was tickled pink on Tuesday afternoon when I caught a glimpse of a squirrel laying in the shade of my balcony, presumably seeking shelter from the afternoon sun. I even managed to get a picture, posting on Instagram how happy I was to see my cute lil' squirrel buddy.
It was adorable, but nefarious. Little did I know that while hiding from the afternoon sun, my lil' squirrel buddy (let's name him Puck), was also doing Super Secret Reconnaissance on my flower pot, using the reflection in the glass door to make him appear as though he were doing nothing more innocent than enjoying some afternoon shade. Who could suspect a squirrel of anything more? Clearly not I.
WELL I WAS WRONG. I WAS FOOLED. NAY, EVEN BETRAYED! Puck, my cute lil' squirrel buddy, had decided that my flower pot was the perfect hiding place for his nut! I found him later that evening after dinner, rapidly digging through my flower pot, ready to place his nut inside so that he could enjoy a meal later! WELL NOT ON MY WATCH, PUCK. I raced out there, ready to defend my poor, innocent, helpless flowers (but not before taking a picture, because I needed to record PROOF), and Puck saw me coming, jumped three feet in the air, and skedaddled, nut in his hands. He fled from my wrath like my younger siblings also fled from my wrath when they broke my things.
yeah, run, while you still can!!!
I knew Puck's retreat wouldn't last forever. He probably considered my balcony his property now. He made a few attempts to come back later that evening, but I continued to spot him and chase him away each time he got to close to my poor flowers. However, night soon fell, and I needed to sleep.
I awoke Wednesday morning to find a giant tuft of flowers on the balcony floor by the flower pot, and dirt thrown around. I did my best to replant the flowers, and went on with my day. I continued to drive Puck away whenever he stopped by, but he didn't seem much interesting in digging up the flowers as much as nibbling them? Either way, I'd rather he didn't.
Anyway, Puck and I have pretty much made peace now. There's pretty much nothing I can do about him-
But, Carina! There's squirrel traps you could use!
Anyway, there's pretty much nothing I can do about Puck. A squirrel trap wouldn't work, as right now, the literal only thing on my balcony is the flower pot, and Puck is intelligent and wouldn't touch it, and also what would I do with him once I trapped him??? Like I said, nothing to be done about Puck, but we shall live in peace and harmony together, like when Avatar Aang brought balance to the bending world. Aang wouldn't want me to deny Puck his place in nature.
Also, not only is there pretty much nothing I can do about Puck, I also have no intention of doing anything about Puck other than complain about him and write blog posts and the occasional post on social media. We've reached a good standstill, Puck and I. Yeah, he may have destroyed some of my flowers, but my flower pot was overflowing anyway, and he spared me the agonizing process of deciding which flowers I needed to thin out.
Anyway, I love Puck, he is evil and conniving, and he's also super adorable when I surprise him by whacking the back door and he does a little startled jump. I'm still going to try and keep my flowers alive for as long as possible, but I guess I'll just have to do it with Puck's "help." Should be good practice for when my own daughter wants to "help" me do housework.
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