Seriously. Squirrels??

Last Wednesday I heard a noise in my wood stove.  As we all know by now, I don't do wild animals in my house At.all.

And if you don't know this by now you can read about a previous encounter with a wild animal
here. 

Anyhow.  I heard a bit of scratching in my wood stove. Again.  I inwardly groaned at the idea of facing another wild creature.

I was keeping one of Rhianna's friends overnight and thankfully her mom and boyfriend pulled up to drop her off.  I asked him if he would be willing to check out the animal.

He grabbed a box and opened the side door to the wood stove.

Nothing happened.

He stuck his head in the door to see if he could see something hiding.  I was screeching in horror thinking something might jump out and attack him at any moment. 

Then Riley decided to peek in himself.  My heart skipped at least 3 beats.

He banged on the stove. Open and shut the damper. But nothing. Nothing appeared.

I was relieved...assuming it was a bat that flew up the chimney.

The next day (Thursday) I got a call from the realtor saying that I had a request for a showing on Saturday.  I, of course, was excited and also relieved that the animal was gone from the stove.

Or.so.I.thought.

Friday morning comes around and I hear some serious scratching in the stove.  The thing actually started knocking on the doors like he was asking to be let out.  Are you kidding me? That door is staying tightly locked. Sorry mister.

I went to work and came home early evening to find the noise had only gotten worse.  Knowing that I had a showing the next day I was in a slight panic. 

Who does this happen to but me?  Who else finally gets a showing and then has something fall from the sky into their fireplace?

By Friday night it was quiet again.  I breathed a sigh of relief and assumed it was just a bat and flew out at dark.  I tiptoed over to the stove and made sure the damper was shut.tight.veryvery tight.

The next morning all was well.  The house was clean and the lawn mowed.  I felt pretty good about things. 

The showing was to be at noon and by 11:20 I was getting ready to get the kids rounded up to head out.  I had a few errands to run and needed to get a few things to the car.

Then. 

At 11:24 am.

I heard it.

36 minutes until showtime and the crazy thing had to come to life and start spazing out again.

I called my brother for help.  I knew he wanted to open the stove just about as much as I wanted to but I had no idea who else to call.

My sweetheart of a brother came over and we formed a plan of attack.  We had a box covering the door ready to catch whatever was dancing in the stove.

We slowly creaked open the door. 

And?

Nothing.

Nothing came out.

Jared peeked inside and saw something.  At first he thought it was a bird.  Then said "No. It's fluffy" 

He peeked a bit closer and said "It's a SQUIRREL! But its just about dead"

At this point it was 15 minutes to showtime.  I made a snap decision and figured that a noisy animal in a wood stove during a showing was much.much better than a loose squirrel during a showing. 

I slammed the door shut, locking it tightly, propping wood (and bricks) up against the stove. Just.to.be.sure.

We snuck out the back door at 11:55 while the realtor was pulling up front. 

As we left I told Riley to pray that they love the house and that God would strike that squirrel dead.immediately.

The showing went well.  They had looked at 9 homes and mine was in their top 3.  But in the end they chose another home.  Not sure if they heard anything in the stove...that was never mentioned. 

To be continued....