Blood Lust II

Posted on May 23, 2011 by Mark Zeiger

Happily, the squirrel war I instigated Saturday may be short lived. I seem to have broken up the clan that had been nesting in the shed and causing a fuss around the cabin. For the moment, there seems little need to go beyond that. We like having the squirrels around for the most part; they have their own niche in the forest, and provide us with spruce duff for the garden and outhouses. Total eradication isn’t a part of our plan.

However, the balance may be pursued by other agents in the neighborhood. Continue reading →

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Blood Lust

Posted on May 22, 2011 by Mark Zeiger

“Every once in a while, the squirrels get out of hand, and we had to shoot them all.” So read the “owner’s manual” the family who built our homestead wrote for whoever bought their property. We’ve kept that in mind, but for almost five years have lived peacefully with the resident red squirrels—with notable exceptions.

Not anymore. Our population has steadily grown until we have too many squirrels running around, stealing insulation out of the buildings, building nests in inconvenient places, teasing the cat to distraction, practically underfoot at all times. We’re beginning to get flea bites working in the yard and garden, it won’t be long till that problem moves indoors if we’re not careful. Continue reading →

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