Meryl the Squirrel Update (part I)

Meryl the Squirrel Update (part I)

Last week I posted on my new little friend…this guy

 (pic).

http://joeh-crankyoldman.blogspot.com/2017/04/my-new-little-friend.html

He would not leave my screen even when I went nose to nose to him.  A cute little fellow.  Squirrels are so cute.  Why do so many people not like squirrels?  I needed to name the little fellow since we became friends.  My daughter suggested Meryl after her favorite childhood story, “Meryl the High Flying Squirrel.”

So Meryl it is.  The problem with naming an animal is you now feel responsible for it.  I soon found out why Meryl was so close and friendly hanging onto my screen door.

Above the sliding doors to our deck is a decorative eave roof.  While I was on my deck enjoying a glass of wine and a good cigar, an occasional treat I give myself when Mrs. C is at work and not around to make me feel guilty, I heard a strange noise.  I could not track it. 

It seemed like it was coming from the decorative eave above the door.  I then looked from an angle and saw the eave had a perfect manmade hole in the aluminum siding.  Why this hole?  Absolutely no reason.  Stupidity, laziness, using leftover parts and ignoring the hole…whatever reason there was a hole to the eave.  The squirrel climbing the screen now made perfect sense.

When the screen door is in the correct closed position, a squirrel can use it to easily climb up to the hole in the eave.  When it is in the “open” position a squirrel can climb up, but not reach the hole…at least an inexperienced baby cannot.  Meryl was trying to reach his nest and he could not with the screen in the open position.  When it was closed, he found his way into the hole.

So now I was faced with Meryl and possibly others in his family, living in my eave.  Meryl was no longer so cute.  He would probably not or could not do too much damage living in the eave, but they do chew on stuff a lot and the scratching rustling noises he made while we were in our kitchen were pretty distracting.

What to do? What to do?

I waited until Meryl went out of his home to scavenge for food.  I made sure to keep the screen in proper squirrel climbing mode for his safety.  When I heard no eave scratching or rustling, I assumed the squirrel home was clear.  I rapped it several times and heard nothing which confirmed the nest was empty.  I then put a cover over the hole in such a way that a squirrel could still get out if he was trapped, but would be discouraged and would have trouble getting back in.  Hey, he is a squirrel, if he wants to get back in he could find a way.  I then made sure to keep the screen in the hard to climb and reach position for a few days.

When I am completely sure the nest is empty, the hole will be covered more permanently.

Fingers crossed.