Squirrels a blessing in disguise???

For a couple of weeks I kept telling Jeff that we needed to get an arborist to come and trim a large branch from our ash tree.  I thought I heard it scraping on our roof near my daughter's bedroom.  But on Tuesday I realized it wasn't the tree, but it was a noise from inside the house...(Scratching, gnawing and squeaky kinds of sounds).

We called the wildlife control services technician, who came and after talking with him about the "symptoms", he informed us that squirrels were the most likely culprits.  He set four traps on the roof.

While outside talking with the tech, Jeff & I realized that we smelled gas.  And when the gas company came to check it out, they confirmed our suspicion of a gas leak and promptly shut off the gas to our home!

So yesterday was a parade of technicians.  My plumber came and dug up the yard to replace the gas line.  An arborist came to give me an estimate on removing an arborvitae right by the house and some large branches from the ash tree where the squirrels were gaining easy access to our attic.  And I spoke with the wildlife guy, Jeff (yes, now we are on a first name basis), to let him know we needed "Plan B" as there were no squirrels in the traps.  (BTW-If you are an animal lover, you will be pleased to know that Jeff will not kill them but "relocate" them further north.  If you live north of me, well, be on the look-out for some potential house-loving squirrels guests!)

And while the money I am now spending on squirrel-related costs is not exactly where I would have chosen to spend money, I can't be too mad at these little furry guys...  It is because of them that I realized we had a gas leak.  We don't normally hang out much on that side of the house and I might not have realized the problem for a while.

So the moral of this story--even a pest can be a blessing!

Comments

[Louisa Sheedy]

At least those squirrels made you do something that's going to last for a long time. That would have been mighty dangerous if you didn't notice it on time.

[Santo Caridine]

Haha. At least your pest did something good for your house. This is a great story. It is best to observant and quick to respond to any problem. :)

[Lino Kosters]

I've experienced that one too. But in my case, cats were the ones making the squeaky sounds! Most of our neighbors experience the same thing every night, LOL. They're always noisy on the roofs. It's a wonder why they stay up there in the first place.