Friendly Woodland Creatures

When we first moved to our neighborhood I was excited to see all of the wildlife in our area. Furry little bunnies and jittery squirrels scampered about our yard; the trees seemed to be teeming with cheerful little songbirds; and the fields a few miles away are bustling with a city of roly-poly prairie dogs. I imagined a two-year-old Griffin peering out the window and giggling with delight at a bushy-tailed squirrel shimmying up a nearby tree. It is a sign of goodness, is it not, to adore small woodland animals, at least according to all of the Disney movies I've seen.

.....ah, blissful ignorance.

It turns out that the prairie dogs in the area carry the bubonic plague. Woodpeckers, unlike the mischievous and lovable Woody Woodpecker, bore holes into the side of the house. The songbirds wake Griffin up at 5am. The bunnies eat our grass, but not our weeds. All of this I could handle and still take a stance of mutual respect, if not willing admiration, for the nature that surrounds me. I can understand when animals, in the great outdoors, behave exactly like animals: singing, pecking, eating, pooping, scampering, etc. As long as it stays in the great outdoors, I have very few complaints.
But the squirrels, oh the squirrels ruin it for me. They are now at the very top of my black list. Recently, we've heard some scratching and scampering noises up in our attic. Though we tried to pretend otherwise, both Landon and I knew that we had a squirrel nest up there. As the weather has gotten warmer, we decided on Wednesday that it was time to turn our swamp cooler on for the summer. Unfortunately, when we went to turn it on, there was no power to the unit. Hmmm, a short in the cord? After trying everything else, Landon at last decided to brave the attic (as a side note, Landon hates tight spaces and so this was a very chivalrous move). In the attic he found evidence everywhere of our furry little housemates: droppings, chewed wood, clumped insulation. The most infuriating evidence was, of course, the chewed electric wire that runs to our swamp cooler. It's a shame we weren't running the swamp cooler when the little guy started chewing on the cord, that would've at least solved the squirrel infestation. As is, we're planning on spending the afternoon chasing squirrels out of the attic and repairing electrical line. We are assuming the risk of both electrocution and squirrel bite, wish us luck!