Saturday, January 23, 2010

All Quiet on the Home Front

Although we spent most of the fall battling the squirrel population of North Shelby County, for the moment at least, we've called a truce.  The squirrels are sticking to the yard, and LBeau has removed this unsightly contraption from the back of our house.

squirrel 006

He constructed it of galvanized flashing, and attached it to the house using duct tape and a C clamp.  Although duct tape may be good for lots of things, including getting rid of warts, I can testify that in rainy weather it will absolutely not stick to brick, thus the C clamp.

The idea behind LBeau's creation was to keep the squirrels from climbing up the brick beside the window and jump from there to the roof.  So they just moved to the other side of the window and took a longer leap, making LBeau's next possible move a gigantic squirrel baffle permanently attached all the way across the back of the house.  No thank you.

Meanwhile, we now need to fix the gutter damage where the squirrels ate holes in them.  You heard that right; they ate the aluminum gutters!!  See this hole where the two pieces of gutter meet.  That seam is supposed to be completely covered by that metal strap which used to overlap the top and turn down inside the gutter.

gutters 002

After a Google search to see if anyone else had ever had a problem with squirrels eating their gutters, I found a forum called Undieable Squirrel.  One poster asked for suggestions on dealing with squirrels eating gutters.  I particularly liked one bit of advise.  "Shoot the buggers!!"

As you can see, we are now prepared.  The kids gave LBeau this air rifle for Christmas, and it's already been put to good use.

squirrel 001

So just a friendly word of warning for all you squirrels out there.  As long as you stick to the yard and the trees, you're safe.  But if you make one move on our house, we'll be waiting for you.

12 comments:

Baumbastic said...

Get 'em Larry!

nanny said...

That is sooooo funny. I shoot the buggers......They just won't quit! They eat everything in site!!!! We had one going in our attic, I'll have to show the picture of fixing that sometime...It took a scissor lift to do it!!!!

Keetha Broyles said...

I LOVE the picture of LBeau on the porch, air rifle in hand, just DARING a self-respecting squirrel to show it's face!!!!

LBeau Rambo!

Debby@Just Breathe said...

Can't believe they ate through the cutter! Love the picture with the air rifle, go get um!

Robin said...

Oh my goodness! I can't believe they actually ate through the gutters! Shoot them babies and maybe the others will learn a lesson!

(LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the brick on your house, BTW!)

{{HUGS}}

Robin :o)

Bargain Decorating with Laurie said...

What an invention! I am laughing so hard about them going to the other side to jump on the roof! LBeau looks like he is prepared for anything with his air rifle! laurie

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Joyce said...

My husband will be jealous : )

On a totally different topic...how was your trip to London?

susan said...

Kathy-I CANNOT believe the little devils ate through the aluminum! I love this picture of Lbeau--he looks like a kid in a candy shop! I'm with you on Valentine's-- After 30+ years!

Barrett said...

We had trouble with squirrels and our gutters too! They chewed a hole in our gutter and ended up being able to crawl into the outside walls of our house. We didn't know it until we discovered that our dog and cat had chewed and scratched a hole in our carpet upstairs. The squirrels were driving them crazy!

Unknown said...

I could not get the button to fit, so I resized it on Photobucket. It wasn't as sharp, but I was trying to make a grab code that would work. If you can figure out how to make it work with a grab code and look sharper that would be great. Did I answer your question? Hope your virus is gone!

Tina said...

That's hilarious..in a way. I just had to stop by and say hello because my blog is also called Life in the Slow Lane. And we call our place Squirrel Head Manor. So, wow...what a coincidence that I stopped by your blog today, for this particular post!