To quote Roseanne Roseannadanna, “It’s always something.”
I was awakened this morning by some gawdawful scratching sounds coming from inside my bedroom wall, and knew immediately I had a trapped animal. It was too loud to be a mouse. Luckily enough, the other side of the wall is the closet for the central air, and lucky for the little bugger he’d landed on top of the return register inside the wall, where there just happened to be an aluminum grille. Space was tight between the wall and the furnace, so I worked hard to pull out the nails that held it in, but he was freaking out in there, trying to attack me, and bloodying his paws on the metal. I saw grey fur and knew I had a squirrel. When I finally pried the grille open a few inches, he was lunging at me, so I backed off. The maintenance guy (I’m in an apartment) helped me pry the the rear of the grille off and discard it, and there sat one very teed-off tree rat.
I tried everything I could to coax him, but he was having none of it, and instead yelled at me everytime I came near the open closet. I finally decided to get myself back to the Greengerg Train Show here in NJ, and leave Rocky to his own devices with a clear path to my 2nd story balcony. The reason I mention all of this is because my main concern was my model trains, and what he might do if he had a major freak-out, or decided to do some nibbling. So I took every HO loco I have sitting out (being an apartment dweller, no layout yet, just an HO test track really, plus American Flyer on the floor) and locked them in my bedroom.
When I got back later, he was gone, leaving everything as he’d found it. I half expected to find him sitting on the couch watching TV with a bowl of Doritos and the Flyer running. Maybe next visit. [:-,]
That’s cool, I like wildlife. I would much rather watch the varments in there natural enviornment than to kill them. That is saying a lot since on the north of me is an open pasture and on the south is a creek with lots of trees, on the west are trees along the creek that is like something from the movie ‘‘Predator’’ and nearly as mush om=n the east. Lots of wildlife. I have been in the train room running trains and look aou the window at a flock of wild turkies, just to name one example. Enjoy the wildlife. Mike
Squirrels have got to be the second most foul-tempered critter alive next to the badger–and they have to get riled. But squirrels don’t need to be provoked to sit up in a tree and cuss a blue streak at you. I’m not a hunter but I am a good shot. Sometimes I get tempted to pull out the Sharps and…maybe I’ll just load up a black powder blank and toast em a little.
I was surprised to see a squirrel lunge like that, but to be fair he was cornered, traumatized, and bleeding from his front paws. That’s why I decided to give him some space. Hopefully this will cure the little dope of his attic shenanigans. They like to come in around this time of year and steal the fiberglass insulation for nesting material, believe it or not.
I had a running joke at work with a coworker who’d moved to Secaucus from Texas, only to have her Saturn’s engine wiring eaten by “Joisey squirrels.” Those Secaucus squirrels carry brass knuckles. [}:)]
Be glad that it was a grey squirrel and not a red. They are truly obnoxious and will tear the place apart. A red will attack a grey twice its size with no provocation.
Lead poisoning is the only good cure that I know of.
[;)]I’m not a big fan of squirrels, and I have a few friends that hunt them . When they get to be a nuisance they get the business end of my high-power airgun . End of problem!!!
Great to see another Renaissance fan. I was at their farewell concert in '87, and met them all backstage. I’ve kept up with Annie, and saw her perform locally several times in the late 90’s.
I always thought “Ashes Are Burning” sounded like the march of some hellbent steam locomotive, as did many of their songs, and I’m sure by now we have most readers here scratching their heads, but what the heck… [;)] Here’s a live clip – horrible quality, but what a performance. We can only hope the master tapes exist somewhere. Black Flame
Thanks for the video clip…that’s the way “Black Flame” should be performed, with Hammond B3 organ, unlike later arrangements when John Tout traded the 400lb B3 for a wimpy little ARP String Ensemble.
My wildlife encounter was a western flicker woodpecker. My daughter came up from the lower lever of the house, where the trains are, and said, “There is a bird down stairs and he is looking at me”. I went down expecting to find a sparrow, finch, or chickadee (It was winter time so all the nasty grackles had left for places in the south), but there sat this monster bird with a long straight beak. As soon as it spread its wings and I saw the red on the inside, I knew what it was - a “Great” northern flicker of the western variety. I knew that beak could splinter hard oak, let alone a thin walled pine caboose or box car. First I shooed the children away and closed the door to contain him in the one room. Fortunately it wasn’t in a panic, so at first I just tried to work around him to the window. That worked until I got about 3 feet away and then came the flurry of wings, from which I hastily retreated. I finally got one of those plastic laundry baskets with holes and used it as a very large helmet. I got the window opened and was eventually able to get him to fly out without incident. I was never able to figure out how he got into the house, let alone into the lower level.
I absolutely hated the B-3, and those darned Leslies that went with it. Loved the sound, but I spent 3 years as a roadie lugging those things around for Tower of Power and BS&T (among others). Wordt, though, was Olivia Newton John. She had this tangerine-colored Yamaha grand piano she demanded be used in every show. Thing had a custom Anvil case for it. The legs came off and it slid sideways into the case. Took 7 of us to lift the thing up onto the stage when we couldn’t get a forklift close enough.
I have a nice Yamaha digital now with a sample of a B-3. Weighs about 30 pounds tops in it’s case. All the sound without all the weight
That was my first thought. I knew they had been hammering on one side of the house (cedar siding) so I figured he had bored clear through. I searched and searched both inside and out and never found anything that went through. Never found anything at all on the inside. I did however put up a audobon society specification Woodpeck house for him, right where the biggest hole was on the outside. He never moved in, but he stopped pecking and went after the neighbors house.
Add one more to the list. I first saw them in concert in an old theater in Albany NY … let’s just say several decades ago. Incredible. An LP got my attention, and the concert got me hooked. Ah memories.
