Results: War of the Squirrels

When the kids were small, they liked watching the squirrels scurry around the trees and run along the top of the fences. They swore they knew some of the little critters well enough to identify them- and named one or two. Do you enjoy watching squirrels at play?

When they were in elementary school, the kids would "harvest" the pecans from our tree which infuriated the squirrels. The little rats (the squirrels, not the kids) fussed about that six ways to Sunday which we thought was amusing. Have you ever been fussed at by a squirrel?

You know what's coming, right? The squirrels took to throwing pecan shells at the kids. The kids retaliated by throwing the shells right back. The squirrels had the advantage thanks to their position in the tree, but skirmishes continued for several years as neither kids nor squirrels would cede the battle. Has a squirrel ever thrown anything at you?

The kids grew up and went back to enjoying the squirrels scurrying around, and all was peaceful. Then, two years ago, our lab puppy entered the fray. Pecan missiles were hurled at the dog- until she grew fast enough to give chase and demonstrated an amazing ability for jumping up tree trunks. Last summer, we realized that the little warriors had decamped and were nesting elsewhere. Have you ever seen a squirrel nest?

The long truce was shattered this spring when one of the local squirrels decided to engage in psychological warfare- driving me crazy filing his teeth on the aluminum gutter over the family room window. A neighbor reports similar forays on his chain link fence and a decorative patio lamp. Honestly, I'd never heard of such a thing. Had you?