Last week I was cleaning up after lunch when I heard a noise in the family
room. Went in and heard something scraping around in the fireplace flue.
"Crap, a bird must have gotten in there." mutters I. As I'm looking in
through the glass doors of the fireplace insert, suddenly something big and
black jumps down from the smoke shelf and bangs into the glass, trying to
get out. Scares the crap out of me! Great, a very dirty squirrel.

After some observation and thought, while it kept climbing up inside and
scraping around, apparently trying to climb back up the chimney, I decide
that it ain't getting out itself, so I've got to capture it without letting
it escape into the house. (I can just see myself explaining sooty animal
tracks all over the house.) I check that the insert doors are well closed,
and then head for Ace hardware, where I buy a "Havahart" cage trap. When I
get home, however, there is no sign of the squirrel. I bang on the metal,
open and close the damper, but get no response. I decide that it must have
been able to climb out itself, although I have trouble believing that such a
feat is possible. I pack up the unused cage trap with the receipt, so that
I can return it.

That evening, my wife lights a fire, after we again bang all over the insert
and get no response from the squirrel. After about an hour, with a nice
fire now going in the fireplace, we suddenly hear the scratching again!
Crap, now we're cooking the little *******. Oh well, that's one way to fix
the problem.

The next morning, as I'm sitting in my chair reading the paper, suddenly the
squirrel reappears inside the insert, now cooled down. This time he's
really desperate to get out. He's quite agitated, and spends most of his
time scratching at the glass. Eventually he disappears up inside somewhere
again. I bait the cage trap with some peanut butter, set it, close off most
of the rest of the house in case he gets free when I open the insert door,
put on some gloves, and very carefully open the door and maneuver the trap
inside the fireplace. As I'm just about to lower it into place, suddenly
something reaches out and grabs my glove. I drop the trap and slam the door
shut. Of course the trap drops and trips itself. The squirrel goes
berserk, apparently from the aroma of the peanut butter. It runs around
inside the fireplace trying desperately to get inside the now closed trap to
get at the bait. It's obviously very hungry.

Now I have a real problem. The trap is inside the fireplace, but closed.
The squirrel won't leave so that I can open the door and reset the trap.
The trap requires two hands to reset it, and I can't risk opening the door
far enough to get both hands inside. If I open the doors much at all, the
damn squirrel begins eating the fiber glass gasket material around the door.
It couldn't damage the stove when the doors were closed, but when I crack
the doors it can.

To make a long story short, eventually I use two long pieces of heavy wire
inserted in the small opening I can make by just opening the doors. One of
these lifts the locking wire that jams the cage door closed. The other
pushes down the lever to open the door, and then is inserted through the
cage mesh just far enough to hold the door open. I can't reset the trigger
mechanism, but I figure if the squirrel goes inside the cage, I can pull out
the wire and I have him. It takes nearly twenty minutes for the damn animal
to figure out that he has to go around to the one end of the cage to get
inside. In them meantime, I'm sticking additional peanut butter inside on
the open end of the cage with another piece of wire, but he's mostly trying
to get at the original bait through the cage sides. Finally, he goes in
through the open door. I pull out the wire and the door closes, on his
tail. I push down the locking wire to make sure he can't push open the cage
door, and then open the fireplace door. He's more interested in the peanut
butter until I start to pick up the cage, whereupon he yanks his tail the
rest of the way into the cage and spins around. Got the little *******!

I take him outside and release him. He runs off, very dirty, I presume
hungry, but otherwise none the worse for wear, considering he shared the
fireplace with a good blaze the night before. Probably has quite a tale
(tail?) to tell his buddies.

Today I noticed a squirrel hanging around the bird feeder with a large bare
spot on his back. Singed fur? I hope so. As soon as the ice is off the
roof, I'm putting a hardware cloth cap over the chimney flue.

--
Bob (Chief Pilot, White Knuckle Airways)

As soon as the ice is off the roof, I'm putting a hardware cloth
cap over the chimney flue.

Take a wander past the fireplace section of your local
home center. Chimney rain caps aren't that expensive
for the amount of peace of mind they bring. Home Despot
had stainless ones when I got mine...

--Glenn Lyford

"Bob Chilcoat" wrote in message
...
Last week I was cleaning up after lunch when I heard a noise in the family
room. Went in and heard something scraping around in the fireplace flue.
"Crap, a bird must have gotten in there." mutters I. As I'm looking in
through the glass doors of the fireplace insert, suddenly something big
and
black jumps down from the smoke shelf and bangs into the glass, trying to
get out. Scares the crap out of me! Great, a very dirty squirrel.

big snip-----
Today I noticed a squirrel hanging around the bird feeder with a large
bare
spot on his back. Singed fur? I hope so. As soon as the ice is off the
roof, I'm putting a hardware cloth cap over the chimney flue.

--
Bob (Chief Pilot, White Knuckle Airways)


Interesting report, Bob. Much like the one we experienced about ten years
ago when we found a raccoon living in our chimney. It, too, went through
a fire and survived. Congratulations of the successful eviction!

Harold

Dropping a rope down the chimney probably would have worked.

I once had to get a cat out of the neighbor's fireplace. Still can't figure
our how it got in there--maybe tried to catch a bird, and fell in. The cat
was atop the damper, and had been there for days before we figured out where
the crying was coming from. It refused to come out, so we called animal
control. He had a cable-noose on a pole, and managed to get it around the
cat's neck, but the cat resisted, and pulling would have broken the cat's
neck. So he left. In the meantime, my cat wandered into the room--when the
cat in the fireplace saw my cat, it came down voluntarily, and went home.

So, you could say that my cat rescued the other cat.

In article ,
says...
Last week I was cleaning up after lunch when I heard a noise in the family
room. Went in and heard something scraping around in the fireplace flue.
"Crap, a bird must have gotten in there." mutters I. As I'm looking in
through the glass doors of the fireplace insert, suddenly something big and
black jumps down from the smoke shelf and bangs into the glass, trying to
get out. Scares the crap out of me! Great, a very dirty squirrel.


If you have Real Audio, check out the "Squirrel Cop" story:

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/page...iptions/98/115.
html

Ned Simmons

Bob Chilcoat wrote:

Last week I was cleaning up after lunch when I heard a noise in the family
room.

snipped

Well writ story Bob!

I put a Home Depot cap on our chimney in January of 2000 when, after living in
our home for about 15 years, we got our first creature, a Grackle (a crow like
bird), down the chimney.

What was really eirie about the event was that it occurred on the morning we
were burying my mom. The Grackle was flapping around behind the fireplace glass
and one of the kids opened the doors without thinking about the consequences.

We were due at the cemetary in the next town to us in less than an hour, and
this stupid bird bird flapping around the cathederal ceilinged family room,
bashing against the skylights trying to get out.

There we were, running around waving brooms and hockey sticks at it trying to
herd it out an opened window. We were just about to give up and let it stay
inside until we got back from mom's graveside funeral service, in company with
twenty or so folks who would be coming back with us to pay a traditional
condolence call.

The thought of the Grackle, even though it was appropriately dressed in black,
flapping around and knocking over coffee cups and such wasn't something we were
looking forward to.

All of a sudden the stupid bird spotted an unblocked window and took off through
it to freedom. It was pretty tuckered out by then and had difficulty maintaining
more than a couple of feet of altitude as it slowly flapped its way over the
lawn and disappeared behind the homes across the street.

Needless to say, the unintended symbolism of seeing that bird leaving our home
coincident with our family saying goodby to my mother for the final time will
never be lost on us. We can't keep from thinking we watched her spirit heading
off for heaven.

Regarding squirrels; While many homeowners hate the little "roof rats", the ones
around or house know their place, and haven't invaded the premises yet. We enjoy
watching the brighter ones learn to crank the kids' discarded gum ball machine
which I converted to a corn dispenser. Some not too great photos of one doing
that are up at:

http://home.comcast.net/~jwisnia18/jeff/

(Click on the middle thumbnail in the first row...I can not tell a lie, I didn't
take the last photo in the series..)

Jeff
--
Jeff Wisnia (W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)

"If you can keep smiling when things go wrong, you've thought of someone to
place the blame on."

Regarding squirrels; While many homeowners hate the little "roof rats", the
ones
around or house know their place, and haven't invaded the premises yet. We
enjoy
watching the brighter ones learn to crank the kids' discarded gum ball
machine
which I converted to a corn dispenser. Some not too great photos of one doing
that are up at:

http://home.comcast.net/~jwisnia18/jeff/

(Click on the middle thumbnail in the first row...I can not tell a lie, I
didn't
take the last photo in the series..)

Jeff
--
Jeff Wisnia (W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)

"If you can keep smiling when things go wrong, you've thought of someone to
place the blame on."

I enjoy watching squirrels from afar, but I've had too many close encounters
with the furry rats to be kind anymore. If they threaten the house, I introduce
them to the point and click interface. Sooner or later I'm going to stew a few
when I find the time.

Oh yeah, we started getting all sorts of weird animal appearences after my
father died. Squirrels, a rabid racoon, a sick crow (all of which ended up
dead), and a whole bunch of neat healthy animals like a tiny owl and a hawk on
the front porch.

GTO(John)

"Bob Chilcoat" wrote in message ...

Last week I was cleaning up after lunch when I heard a noise in the family
room. Went in and heard something scraping around in the fireplace flue.
[...]

Quite a story Bob. In nice weather I wonder if a rope dropped down a
chimney would get a squirrel to climb out?

"Harold & Susan Vordos" wrote in message ...
"Bob Chilcoat" wrote in message
...
Last week I was cleaning up after lunch when I heard a noise in the family
room. Went in and heard something scraping around in the fireplace flue.
"Crap, a bird must have gotten in there." mutters I. As I'm looking in
through the glass doors of the fireplace insert, suddenly something big
and
black jumps down from the smoke shelf and bangs into the glass, trying to
get out. Scares the crap out of me! Great, a very dirty squirrel.

big snip-----
Today I noticed a squirrel hanging around the bird feeder with a large
bare
spot on his back. Singed fur? I hope so. As soon as the ice is off the
roof, I'm putting a hardware cloth cap over the chimney flue.

--
Bob (Chief Pilot, White Knuckle Airways)


Interesting report, Bob. Much like the one we experienced about ten years
ago when we found a raccoon living in our chimney. It, too, went through
a fire and survived. Congratulations of the successful eviction!

Harold

I'm building a new house and have a very large flue (in a very large
chimney) - there's a half ton slab of concrete as a rain cap over the
whole thing and the thought of a coon getting in there was not very
pleasant. To discourage the little buggers, I welded up a square
frame of 1/8 x 1 inch strip, welded additional strips across the open
frame and welded 16d nails, point up, on the strips. I welded on some
brackets made from strips of angle on the sides so the whole thing
sits in the flue with the nails pointing up. To keep the birds out,
there's some chicken wire across the bottom.


I had a red squirrel fall down the flue in an unused fireplace in my
current house. Beats me how he got in since the screen around the
flue opening was intact, but it was amazingly hard to get the little
idiot pointed to the open door (8 feet from the fireplace). This is
an unused fireplace with no screen. When I opened the damper the
little bugger bounced on the floor and took off. Maybe next time I'll
let the cats take care of the problem.

Paul

On Wed, 21 Jan 2004 00:02:48 -0500, "Bob Chilcoat"
wrote:

(snip)

I take him outside and release him. He runs off, very dirty, I presume
hungry, but otherwise none the worse for wear, considering he shared the
fireplace with a good blaze the night before. Probably has quite a tale
(tail?) to tell his buddies.

Today I noticed a squirrel hanging around the bird feeder with a large bare
spot on his back. Singed fur? I hope so. As soon as the ice is off the
roof, I'm putting a hardware cloth cap over the chimney flue.

Some folks in Minnesota had a family of raccoons living under their
porch, called the extension division at the U to inquire about a
remedy. The fella at the U said to just put a place of lutefisk
under the porch and the smell would drive the 'coons away.

The nice fella from the U called the next day to check on their
progress.

"Well, ya, da coons are gone but now ve have a family of Norwegians
living under da porch!"

On Wed, 21 Jan 2004 00:02:48 -0500, "Bob Chilcoat"
brought forth from the murky depths:

Last week I was cleaning up after lunch when I heard a noise in the family
room. Went in and heard something scraping around in the fireplace flue.
-snip of hilarity-
I take him outside and release him. He runs off, very dirty, I presume
hungry, but otherwise none the worse for wear, considering he shared the
fireplace with a good blaze the night before. Probably has quite a tale
(tail?) to tell his buddies.

As do you! g
Thanks for a good story well told.


Today I noticed a squirrel hanging around the bird feeder with a large bare
spot on his back. Singed fur? I hope so. As soon as the ice is off the
roof, I'm putting a hardware cloth cap over the chimney flue.

Glenn posted about a rain cap, but in many areas, a spark
arrestor is mandatory. They do triple duty to remove fire
hazards, keep rain out of your chimney, and keep nosy birds
and squirrels out. Take a look at some to build for your
squirrel catcher, eh?


--== May The Angst Be With You! ==--
-Yoda, on a bad day
--
http://diversify.com Ending Your Web Page Angst.

Dave wrote:

"Bob Chilcoat" wrote in message ...

Last week I was cleaning up after lunch when I heard a noise in the family
room. Went in and heard something scraping around in the fireplace flue.
[...]

Quite a story Bob. In nice weather I wonder if a rope dropped down a
chimney would get a squirrel to climb out?

It might well have done so.

I remember once at the place I was working the guys in the drafting room heard scratching noises coming from
the "whiteprint" machine before it had been turned on for the day. When they opened it up they found a bird
jumping around inside the glass cylinder.

They thought they'd have to tear the machine apart to let it out, but our janitor, wiser than the rest of us,
went outside and dropped a rope down through the "stovepipe" exhaust stack. Shortly thereafter that bird hauled
itself up and out.

Jeff


--
Jeff Wisnia (W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)

"If you can keep smiling when things go wrong, you've thought of someone to place the blame on."

LOL!! Been there, done that! Squirrels, racoons, even a little
screech owl. Make that a FAMILY of racoons. A whole row of beady
litle eyes staring out at you is both cute and worrysome at the
same time!

If it happens again, put a large diameter rope or a smaller one
with knots down the fireplace to give the critter an out.

If it is a gray squirrel, he will probably remember what
happened, he will steer clear of your place. If it is a red
squirrel, you have my permission to do what ever you choose to
the little b*****d.

In any case, get a chimmney cap to avoid the problem in the future.

Bob Chilcoat wrote:

Last week I was cleaning up after lunch when I heard a noise in the family
room. Went in and heard something scraping around in the fireplace flue.
"Crap, a bird must have gotten in there." mutters I. As I'm looking in
through the glass doors of the fireplace insert, suddenly something big and
black jumps down from the smoke shelf and bangs into the glass, trying to
get out. Scares the crap out of me! Great, a very dirty squirrel.

After some observation and thought, while it kept climbing up inside and
scraping around, apparently trying to climb back up the chimney, I decide
that it ain't getting out itself, so I've got to capture it without letting
it escape into the house. (I can just see myself explaining sooty animal
tracks all over the house.) I check that the insert doors are well closed,
and then head for Ace hardware, where I buy a "Havahart" cage trap. When I
get home, however, there is no sign of the squirrel. I bang on the metal,
open and close the damper, but get no response. I decide that it must have
been able to climb out itself, although I have trouble believing that such a
feat is possible. I pack up the unused cage trap with the receipt, so that
I can return it.

That evening, my wife lights a fire, after we again bang all over the insert
and get no response from the squirrel. After about an hour, with a nice
fire now going in the fireplace, we suddenly hear the scratching again!
Crap, now we're cooking the little *******. Oh well, that's one way to fix
the problem.

The next morning, as I'm sitting in my chair reading the paper, suddenly the
squirrel reappears inside the insert, now cooled down. This time he's
really desperate to get out. He's quite agitated, and spends most of his
time scratching at the glass. Eventually he disappears up inside somewhere
again. I bait the cage trap with some peanut butter, set it, close off most
of the rest of the house in case he gets free when I open the insert door,
put on some gloves, and very carefully open the door and maneuver the trap
inside the fireplace. As I'm just about to lower it into place, suddenly
something reaches out and grabs my glove. I drop the trap and slam the door
shut. Of course the trap drops and trips itself. The squirrel goes
berserk, apparently from the aroma of the peanut butter. It runs around
inside the fireplace trying desperately to get inside the now closed trap to
get at the bait. It's obviously very hungry.

Now I have a real problem. The trap is inside the fireplace, but closed.
The squirrel won't leave so that I can open the door and reset the trap.
The trap requires two hands to reset it, and I can't risk opening the door
far enough to get both hands inside. If I open the doors much at all, the
damn squirrel begins eating the fiber glass gasket material around the door.
It couldn't damage the stove when the doors were closed, but when I crack
the doors it can.

To make a long story short, eventually I use two long pieces of heavy wire
inserted in the small opening I can make by just opening the doors. One of
these lifts the locking wire that jams the cage door closed. The other
pushes down the lever to open the door, and then is inserted through the
cage mesh just far enough to hold the door open. I can't reset the trigger
mechanism, but I figure if the squirrel goes inside the cage, I can pull out
the wire and I have him. It takes nearly twenty minutes for the damn animal
to figure out that he has to go around to the one end of the cage to get
inside. In them meantime, I'm sticking additional peanut butter inside on
the open end of the cage with another piece of wire, but he's mostly trying
to get at the original bait through the cage sides. Finally, he goes in
through the open door. I pull out the wire and the door closes, on his
tail. I push down the locking wire to make sure he can't push open the cage
door, and then open the fireplace door. He's more interested in the peanut
butter until I start to pick up the cage, whereupon he yanks his tail the
rest of the way into the cage and spins around. Got the little *******!

I take him outside and release him. He runs off, very dirty, I presume
hungry, but otherwise none the worse for wear, considering he shared the
fireplace with a good blaze the night before. Probably has quite a tale
(tail?) to tell his buddies.

Today I noticed a squirrel hanging around the bird feeder with a large bare
spot on his back. Singed fur? I hope so. As soon as the ice is off the
roof, I'm putting a hardware cloth cap over the chimney flue.

--
Bob (Chief Pilot, White Knuckle Airways)

On Wed, 21 Jan 2004 13:27:23 -0500, Jeff Wisnia
wrote:

Bob Chilcoat wrote:

Last week I was cleaning up after lunch when I heard a noise in the family
room.

snipped

Well writ story Bob!

I put a Home Depot cap on our chimney in January of 2000 when, after living in
our home for about 15 years, we got our first creature, a Grackle (a crow like
bird), down the chimney.

What was really eirie about the event was that it occurred on the morning we
were burying my mom. The Grackle was flapping around behind the fireplace glass
and one of the kids opened the doors without thinking about the consequences.

We were due at the cemetary in the next town to us in less than an hour, and
this stupid bird bird flapping around the cathederal ceilinged family room,
bashing against the skylights trying to get out.

There we were, running around waving brooms and hockey sticks at it trying to
herd it out an opened window. We were just about to give up and let it stay
inside until we got back from mom's graveside funeral service, in company with
twenty or so folks who would be coming back with us to pay a traditional
condolence call.

The thought of the Grackle, even though it was appropriately dressed in black,
flapping around and knocking over coffee cups and such wasn't something we were
looking forward to.

All of a sudden the stupid bird spotted an unblocked window and took off through
it to freedom. It was pretty tuckered out by then and had difficulty maintaining
more than a couple of feet of altitude as it slowly flapped its way over the
lawn and disappeared behind the homes across the street.

Needless to say, the unintended symbolism of seeing that bird leaving our home
coincident with our family saying goodby to my mother for the final time will
never be lost on us. We can't keep from thinking we watched her spirit heading
off for heaven.

Regarding squirrels; While many homeowners hate the little "roof rats", the ones
around or house know their place, and haven't invaded the premises yet. We enjoy
watching the brighter ones learn to crank the kids' discarded gum ball machine
which I converted to a corn dispenser. Some not too great photos of one doing
that are up at:

http://home.comcast.net/~jwisnia18/jeff/

(Click on the middle thumbnail in the first row...I can not tell a lie, I didn't
take the last photo in the series..)

Jeff

I read the part for the nuke picture. That must be what those
multiple smoke trails are on nuke pictures. They never show them very
long on TV to figure it out. I was always thinking on the lines of
wires behind rockets and the wires would toast for some reason, but
they are just the smoke trails to get insturments at different
altitudes close to the blast?

Sunworshiper wrote:

On Wed, 21 Jan 2004 13:27:23 -0500, Jeff Wisnia
wrote:



snipped


Regarding squirrels; While many homeowners hate the little "roof rats", the ones
around or house know their place, and haven't invaded the premises yet. We enjoy
watching the brighter ones learn to crank the kids' discarded gum ball machine
which I converted to a corn dispenser. Some not too great photos of one doing
that are up at:

http://home.comcast.net/~jwisnia18/jeff/

(Click on the middle thumbnail in the first row...I can not tell a lie, I didn't
take the last photo in the series..)

Jeff

I read the part for the nuke picture. That must be what those
multiple smoke trails are on nuke pictures. They never show them very
long on TV to figure it out. I was always thinking on the lines of
wires behind rockets and the wires would toast for some reason, but
they are just the smoke trails to get insturments at different
altitudes close to the blast?

Well, yeah, at least on the above ground tests..(Ducking..)

Keith, who spearheads that "Atomic Vets" website:

http://www.aracnet.com/~pdxavets/

ss a very nice guy. He's selling recently declassified videos of a large number of
atomic tests from the cold war era for very reasonable prices. For old tymes sake I
bought the one covering the series of tests I was involved with. For very
understandable reasons, personal photographic efforts were verboten back then,

Jeff

--

Jeff Wisnia (W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)

"If you can smile when things are going wrong, you've thought of someone to blame it
on."

Excellent story...thanks for sharing it with us.

Much of the same thing happened to me last year around Christmas.

One early, early morning I was awakened by some noise out in the
family room. I think to myself, "What is that darn cat doing?" and
then fall back to sleep. A couple of hours later, I am awakened again.
Now as I lay there listening, I soon figured out that more than a cat
is making the noise. I sneak out to the family room with club in hand
and there sits the cat in the middle of the room calmly watching the
fireplace mantle. Then I see what he is watching....a very, very
frantic squirrel trying to escape. Well as you described, this
squirrel had gotten past the cover on top of the chimney and down the
chimney. In my case, he had been able to rattle the fireplace doors
open and had spent the last couple hours shredding curtains, knocking
glass off the mantle, shredding window screens, unstuffing a stuffed
chair, ripping the Christmas tree apart and leaving soot and squirrel
crap EVERYWHERE. I swear that this blasted squirrel was the same one
you have seen on the National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation movie.

Well, the cat had thankfully done his job by confining the intruder to
one area of the house. I hate to think what this squirrel would have
done if the cat hadn't kept him to just one room.

After watching this furry homewrecker for a few minutes, it became
clear that I wouldn't have a chance to get close to him so I could
club him without him redecorating the remainder of the house. I threw
the cat in a bathroom and then proceeded to open all the doors and
windows I reach in the house without having the squirrel move to a
diferent part of the house. It took close to an hour before the scared
to death squirrel finally bounded out an open door and hit the ground
running.

To this day, I haven't figured out how he got in the chimney. The cap
is on tight and there are no openings that he could have squeezed
through.

Ironically, this spring when I was doing yard work I noticed a whiff
of hair showing from a sewer vent pipe up on my roof. Upon
investigation, I pulled out a very dead and decomposed squirrel from
the pipe. I am very lucky it did not get further down and plug my
sewer.

TMT

On Wed, 21 Jan 2004 16:37:59 GMT, "Leo Lichtman"
wrote:

Dropping a rope down the chimney probably would have worked.

I once had to get a cat out of the neighbor's fireplace. Still can't figure
our how it got in there--maybe tried to catch a bird, and fell in. The cat
was atop the damper, and had been there for days before we figured out where
the crying was coming from. It refused to come out, so we called animal
control. He had a cable-noose on a pole, and managed to get it around the
cat's neck, but the cat resisted, and pulling would have broken the cat's
neck. So he left. In the meantime, my cat wandered into the room--when the
cat in the fireplace saw my cat, it came down voluntarily, and went home.

So, you could say that my cat rescued the other cat.

I've told this story on some NG before but don't know if it was this
one where I rarely post. I used to have a cat that came in the house
through the chimney. The first time it near scared the daylights out
of me (and probably the cat, too). I heard a rustle, rustle, rustle
in the chimney and next thing I knew the cat streaked out of the
fireplace (didn't have glass doors) with soot flying all over the
place. I didn't have the ability to do anything about the chimney so
that became the cat's way of getting in when no one was home. After
several trips, she came through sootless as she'd swept the chimney
nice and clean. Needless to say we never closed the flue. )
Sue

On Wed, 21 Jan 2004 20:02:03 -0600, Roy J
brought forth from the murky depths:

LOL!! Been there, done that! Squirrels, racoons, even a little
screech owl. Make that a FAMILY of racoons. A whole row of beady
litle eyes staring out at you is both cute and worrysome at the
same time!

If it happens again, put a large diameter rope or a smaller one
with knots down the fireplace to give the critter an out.

Why knots? They climb up and down the strainght strings and
ropes to squirr^H^H^H^H^Hbird feeders all the time.


If it is a gray squirrel, he will probably remember what
happened, he will steer clear of your place. If it is a red
squirrel, you have my permission to do what ever you choose to
the little b*****d.

Something like this?
http://www.scarysquirrel.org/special/movies/longjump/
(I've always loved that one.)


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Too_Many_Tools wrote:
... a sewer vent pipe up on my roof. Upon
investigation, I pulled out a very dead and decomposed squirrel from
the pipe. I am very lucky it did not get further down and plug my
sewer.

Lucky too that it did not plug the vent pipe itself. A plugged vent can
mean traps siphoning, bad odors in the house, and frustration trying to
figure WTF is going on.

My "stuck animal" story involves a grackle, IIRC. I was replacing the
gas water heater and in reconnecting the 4" exhaust pipe I discovered
the very dead grackle inside it. Now a grackle is a pretty large bird
and 4" isn't a very large pipe. It scared me to think how close we'd
come to having that pipe blocked and fumes coming into the house.

Bob

I thought of that, but the roof is covered with ice. I wasn't about to
climb up there. Can you say ski jump? Yeeeeeee hah!

--
Bob (Chief Pilot, White Knuckle Airways)


"Dave" wrote in message
om...

Quite a story Bob. In nice weather I wonder if a rope dropped down a
chimney would get a squirrel to climb out?

Reminds me of the mouse we had at a friend's summer cottage that got thrown
across the room and slammed into a wall by the mousetrap it was climbing
over to get at the bait. Stunned it pretty bad, but it scampered into the
woodpile next to the fireplace before I could dispatch it. Must have
suffered some brain damage, though. An hour later or so it reappeared on
top of the woodpile, and just watched as my friend administered a
coup-de-grace with his shoe.
--
Bob (Chief Pilot, White Knuckle Airways)


If it is a gray squirrel, he will probably remember what
happened, he will steer clear of your place. If it is a red
squirrel, you have my permission to do what ever you choose to
the little b*****d.

Something like this?
http://www.scarysquirrel.org/special/movies/longjump/
(I've always loved that one.)

"Bob Engelhardt" wrote in message
...
snip--
My "stuck animal" story involves a grackle, IIRC. I was replacing the
gas water heater and in reconnecting the 4" exhaust pipe I discovered
the very dead grackle inside it. Now a grackle is a pretty large bird
and 4" isn't a very large pipe. It scared me to think how close we'd
come to having that pipe blocked and fumes coming into the house.

Bob

Wow!! You hear about someone dying that way almost every winter season.

Harold

"Bob Chilcoat" wrote in message
...
Reminds me of the mouse we had at a friend's summer cottage that got
thrown
across the room and slammed into a wall by the mousetrap it was climbing
over to get at the bait. Stunned it pretty bad, but it scampered into the
woodpile next to the fireplace before I could dispatch it. Must have
suffered some brain damage, though. An hour later or so it reappeared on
top of the woodpile, and just watched as my friend administered a
coup-de-grace with his shoe.
--
Bob (Chief Pilot, White Knuckle Airways)


I took a fall off the scaffolding last August, nothing broken (long story)
but a concussion. Susan called 911. She found me unconscious, but thanks
to the concussion, when I came around, it likely goes without saying my bell
had been rung pretty badly. What happened? What time is
? ---------What happened? What time is it? -----------What time is
it? -----------What happened ----------------

I think I understand the plight of the mouse! g

Harold

Harold & Susan Vordos wrote:
I took a fall off the scaffolding last August, nothing broken (long story)
but a concussion. Susan called 911. She found me unconscious, but thanks
to the concussion, when I came around, it likely goes without saying my bell
had been rung pretty badly. What happened? What time is
? ---------What happened? What time is it? -----------What time is
it? -----------What happened ----------------

I think I understand the plight of the mouse! g

I'll buy that the mouse is thinking 'What happened---'
But 'What time is it? ------' No Way !
--
SATOR AREPO TENET OPERA ROTAS
Have 5 nice days! John
******************************
--- ILN 000.000.001 ---

"John" wrote in message
...
Harold & Susan Vordos wrote:
I took a fall off the scaffolding last August, nothing broken (long
story)
but a concussion. Susan called 911. She found me unconscious, but
thanks
to the concussion, when I came around, it likely goes without saying my
bell
had been rung pretty badly. What happened? What time is
? ---------What happened? What time is it? -----------What time
is
it? -----------What happened ----------------

I think I understand the plight of the mouse! g

I'll buy that the mouse is thinking 'What happened---'
But 'What time is it? ------' No Way !


I dunno-----he could have been wondering if it was lunch time! g

Harold

On Thu, 22 Jan 2004 07:10:58 GMT, Sue wrote:



I've told this story on some NG before but don't know if it was this
one where I rarely post. I used to have a cat that came in the house
through the chimney. The first time it near scared the daylights out
of me (and probably the cat, too). I heard a rustle, rustle, rustle
in the chimney and next thing I knew the cat streaked out of the
fireplace (didn't have glass doors) with soot flying all over the
place. I didn't have the ability to do anything about the chimney so
that became the cat's way of getting in when no one was home. After
several trips, she came through sootless as she'd swept the chimney
nice and clean. Needless to say we never closed the flue. )
Sue
Sounds like a well trained, useful pet to me!
In our former house, a starling entered through the chimney/gas
furnace draft damper. After much effort, I gave up on capturing the
intruder and went out for the evening, leaving the house cat in
charge. When we returned, all we found were one bird foot and a few
feathers on the floor in front of the TV.
In the current house, after installing a HE furnace, the chimney
serves only the water heater. one day I heard a fluttering noise in
the vent from the water heater. After several heat cycles I determined
that the bird was moving back and forth between the vent pipe and the
clean-out. with much stretching and one arm in the clean-out, the
other in the flue hole, I was able to extract the young starling.
Although I should have wrung its neck, I figured that after four days
(min.) in the chimney, it deserved a second chance!
Gerry :-)}
London, Canada

In article , Gerald Miller says...

When we returned, all we found were one bird foot and a few
feathers on the floor in front of the TV.

We had pigeons in our back yard for a while.

One evening we came home, and there was a large circle
of pigeon feathers in the grass. And nothing else.
We thought maybe it was a cat that did it, but
there was no real evidence of a struggle.

A few days later we realized what had happened,
my wife looked out in the front yard to see
a *large* red-tail hawk sitting in the tree.

I suspect the pigeon never knew what hit it.

Jim

==================================================
please reply to:
JRR(zero) at yktvmv (dot) vnet (dot) ibm (dot) com
==================================================

On Thu, 22 Jan 2004 11:42:16 -0800, "Harold & Susan Vordos"
wrote:


"Bob Chilcoat" wrote in message
...
Reminds me of the mouse we had at a friend's summer cottage that got
thrown
across the room and slammed into a wall by the mousetrap it was climbing
over to get at the bait. Stunned it pretty bad, but it scampered into the
woodpile next to the fireplace before I could dispatch it. Must have
suffered some brain damage, though. An hour later or so it reappeared on
top of the woodpile, and just watched as my friend administered a
coup-de-grace with his shoe.
--
Bob (Chief Pilot, White Knuckle Airways)


I took a fall off the scaffolding last August, nothing broken (long story)
but a concussion. Susan called 911. She found me unconscious, but thanks
to the concussion, when I came around, it likely goes without saying my bell
had been rung pretty badly. What happened? What time is
? ---------What happened? What time is it? -----------What time is
it? -----------What happened ----------------

I think I understand the plight of the mouse! g

Harold

I wish I had a video of the red squirrel riding a six inch patch of
bark removed from the side of a beech tree by the slug from my .30-.30
Winchester. The squirrel survived the ride but he didn't come back to
swear at me any more that day.
Gerry :-)}
London, Canada

"Gerald Miller" wrote in message
...
snip-----
I wish I had a video of the red squirrel riding a six inch patch of
bark removed from the side of a beech tree by the slug from my .30-.30
Winchester. The squirrel survived the ride but he didn't come back to
swear at me any more that day.
Gerry :-)}
London, Canada

Who needs a roller coaster, says Gerry! :-)

Harold

On Fri, 23 Jan 2004 03:00:54 GMT, Gerald Miller
wrote:

On Thu, 22 Jan 2004 07:10:58 GMT, Sue wrote:



I've told this story on some NG before but don't know if it was this
one where I rarely post. I used to have a cat that came in the house
through the chimney. The first time it near scared the daylights out
of me (and probably the cat, too). I heard a rustle, rustle, rustle
in the chimney and next thing I knew the cat streaked out of the
fireplace (didn't have glass doors) with soot flying all over the
place. I didn't have the ability to do anything about the chimney so
that became the cat's way of getting in when no one was home. After
several trips, she came through sootless as she'd swept the chimney
nice and clean. Needless to say we never closed the flue. )
Sue
Sounds like a well trained, useful pet to me!
In our former house, a starling entered through the chimney/gas
furnace draft damper. After much effort, I gave up on capturing the
intruder and went out for the evening, leaving the house cat in
charge. When we returned, all we found were one bird foot and a few
feathers on the floor in front of the TV.
In the current house, after installing a HE furnace, the chimney
serves only the water heater. one day I heard a fluttering noise in
the vent from the water heater. After several heat cycles I determined
that the bird was moving back and forth between the vent pipe and the
clean-out. with much stretching and one arm in the clean-out, the
other in the flue hole, I was able to extract the young starling.

I don't know what the diameters of these things are nor how big your
arms are, but your story gave me visions of the fire dept having to
come and extract you. )

Although I should have wrung its neck, I figured that after four days
(min.) in the chimney, it deserved a second chance!

I agree. You did the right thing.
Sue
Gerry :-)}
London, Canada

On 22 Jan 2004 19:18:43 -0800, jim rozen
wrote:

In article , Gerald Miller says...

When we returned, all we found were one bird foot and a few
feathers on the floor in front of the TV.

We had pigeons in our back yard for a while.

One evening we came home, and there was a large circle
of pigeon feathers in the grass. And nothing else.
We thought maybe it was a cat that did it, but
there was no real evidence of a struggle.

A few days later we realized what had happened,
my wife looked out in the front yard to see
a *large* red-tail hawk sitting in the tree.

I suspect the pigeon never knew what hit it.

Jim

A buddy of mine's hobby is racing pigeons. His coop is in his back
yard, beneath a large cottonwood tree. We counted 5 red tails sitting in
the tree one afternoon, during a lull in the rabbit population. All with
rather expectant looks and much peering at the coop. They are not dumb
birds....

We actually once watched a red tail in hot pursuit of one of his rollers
as the roller headed for the coop. The entry way to the coop is way too
small for the hawk..and he was so intent on his stoop (dive) that he
flew headlong into the side of the coop, breaking his neck. Made a hell
of a thump. Like watching an old WW2 picture of a dive bomber hitting
the water...feathers everywhere.

Fortunately we didn't have to explain to Animal Control why there was a
dead hawk in his trash can..as Dave Is the local Animal Control officer
G

Gunner, who once upon a time raised raptors.


"As my father told me long ago, the objective is not to convince someone
with your arguments but to provide the arguments with which he later
convinces himself."
David Friedman

In article , Gunner says...

We actually once watched a red tail in hot pursuit of one of his rollers
as the roller headed for the coop. The entry way to the coop is way too
small for the hawk..and he was so intent on his stoop (dive) that he
flew headlong into the side of the coop, breaking his neck. Made a hell
of a thump. Like watching an old WW2 picture of a dive bomber hitting
the water...feathers everywhere.

Those things are huge. It's hard to realize when you see them
in the sky, there's nothing for comparison. But when your wife
comes in and says "there's a dog sitting in the tree in the front
yard" then that puts it in perspective!

Jim

==================================================
please reply to:
JRR(zero) at yktvmv (dot) vnet (dot) ibm (dot) com
==================================================

On 23 Jan 2004 05:09:08 -0800, jim rozen
wrote:

In article , Gunner says...

We actually once watched a red tail in hot pursuit of one of his rollers
as the roller headed for the coop. The entry way to the coop is way too
small for the hawk..and he was so intent on his stoop (dive) that he
flew headlong into the side of the coop, breaking his neck. Made a hell
of a thump. Like watching an old WW2 picture of a dive bomber hitting
the water...feathers everywhere.

Those things are huge. It's hard to realize when you see them
in the sky, there's nothing for comparison. But when your wife
comes in and says "there's a dog sitting in the tree in the front
yard" then that puts it in perspective!

When I was living in Alaska I was walking on the beach one day and saw
a dog playing in the surf. Went close to take a look a discovered it
was a bald eagle. Now *those* are huge birds.
Sue


Jim

================================================= =
please reply to:
JRR(zero) at yktvmv (dot) vnet (dot) ibm (dot) com
================================================= =

Pop quiz for the qroup : How many vent pipes does YOUR house have?

Extra credit : What other three items should the house have?

Answers shown below.

===

Actually you make a very good point that anyone should remember when
installing plumbing.

The squirrel (or what was left of him) did effectively plug the vent
pipe with no effect on the functionality of the plumbing.

What saved my plumbing (and maybe my family's life)?

The fact that my plumbing in the house has three different vent pipes.

Redundancy in design is always good and graceful failure should be the
rule not the exception.

Lesson learned...make darn sure your plumbing has more than one vent
pipe.

===

Answer to the above pop quiz : If you read this far, you know it
should have more than one. Does yours?

Extra credit answers : Smoke detector, CO detector and an owner who
makes sure they are working every night before he goes to sleep.



Bob Engelhardt wrote in message ...
Too_Many_Tools wrote:
... a sewer vent pipe up on my roof. Upon
investigation, I pulled out a very dead and decomposed squirrel from
the pipe. I am very lucky it did not get further down and plug my
sewer.

Lucky too that it did not plug the vent pipe itself. A plugged vent can
mean traps siphoning, bad odors in the house, and frustration trying to
figure WTF is going on.

My "stuck animal" story involves a grackle, IIRC. I was replacing the
gas water heater and in reconnecting the 4" exhaust pipe I discovered
the very dead grackle inside it. Now a grackle is a pretty large bird
and 4" isn't a very large pipe. It scared me to think how close we'd
come to having that pipe blocked and fumes coming into the house.

Bob

Sue wrote:

When I was living in Alaska I was walking on the beach one day and saw
a dog playing in the surf. Went close to take a look a discovered it
was a bald eagle. Now *those* are huge birds.
Sue

I saw a pair of Golden Eagles sitting on a ridgeline overlooking a
valley. From 75 yards away, they still looked big. I could understand
then, why they were used to hunt wolves by falconers. They sure made the
ravens that were "in attendance" look tiny.

Cheers
Trevor Jones

On Fri, 23 Jan 2004 05:59:07 GMT, Sue wrote:



I don't know what the diameters of these things are nor how big your
arms are, but your story gave me visions of the fire dept having to
come and extract you. )
The flue opening is 7" dia. while the clean out is 4 x 8" and about
18" below the flue. They are about 16 " from the inside face of the
concrete wall through to the interior of the chimney. It took a while
to encourage to get the little beggar to move around enough for me to
get a hold on one wing. Not the most dignified position.
Gerry :-)}
London, Canada

On 23 Jan 2004 05:09:08 -0800, jim rozen
wrote:

In article , Gunner says...

We actually once watched a red tail in hot pursuit of one of his rollers
as the roller headed for the coop. The entry way to the coop is way too
small for the hawk..and he was so intent on his stoop (dive) that he
flew headlong into the side of the coop, breaking his neck. Made a hell
of a thump. Like watching an old WW2 picture of a dive bomber hitting
the water...feathers everywhere.

Those things are huge. It's hard to realize when you see them
in the sky, there's nothing for comparison. But when your wife
comes in and says "there's a dog sitting in the tree in the front
yard" then that puts it in perspective!

Jim


In the late 60s -1971ish..I was involved in a raptor breeding program.
The folks who raise raptors for hunting are often credited for saving
many species of raptors during the worst DDT years. The eggs were
paper thin and in the wild, they often were broken, while in captivity
they were handled much better.

http://www.geocities.com/michhawkingclub/FAQ2.html

It was a complete thrill to have a kestrel or red tail, or other type
of hawk on your glove, and think back the thousands of years that
others have done the same. When your bird comes back (they often
didnt..hence the increase in wild birds over the years), and flairs
before landing on your glove..its like standing at the end of a runway
and watchine a 747 coming in to land. Beautiful birds. I much rather
a raptor than a parrot etc.

Gunner

" ..The world has gone crazy. Guess I'm showing my age...
I think it dates from when we started looking at virtues
as funny. It's embarrassing to speak of honor, integrity,
bravery, patriotism, 'doing the right thing', charity,
fairness. You have Seinfeld making cowardice an acceptable
choice; our politicians changing positions of honor with
every poll; we laugh at servicemen and patriotic fervor; we
accept corruption in our police and bias in our judges; we
kill our children, and wonder why they have no respect for
Life. We deny children their childhood and innocence- and
then we denigrate being a Man, as opposed to a 'person'. We
*assume* that anyone with a weapon will use it against his
fellowman- if only he has the chance. Nah; in our agitation
to keep the State out of the church business, we've
destroyed our value system and replaced it with *nothing*.
Turns my stomach- " Chas , rec.knives

In article , Gunner says...

It was a complete thrill to have a kestrel or red tail, or other type
of hawk on your glove, and think back the thousands of years that
others have done the same.

One can actually hold a full grown red-tail on an outstreatched arm?

I think I would be totally unable to avoid flinching (hell,
avoid diving under the porch!) in a situation like that.

Jim

==================================================
please reply to:
JRR(zero) at yktvmv (dot) vnet (dot) ibm (dot) com
==================================================

On 24 Jan 2004 06:59:58 -0800, jim rozen
wrote:

In article , Gunner says...

It was a complete thrill to have a kestrel or red tail, or other type
of hawk on your glove, and think back the thousands of years that
others have done the same.

One can actually hold a full grown red-tail on an outstreatched arm?

I think I would be totally unable to avoid flinching (hell,
avoid diving under the porch!) in a situation like that.

Jim

Yup. They are actually lighter than they look, what with hollow bones
etc. A big one is not something you want to hold are arms length for
too long though....

They do have a piercing gaze that can be a bit interesting to meet, if
you are insecure G, though they can be cuddly and nuzzle you.
However..they are not like puppies or kittens... while happy to see
you..they are still one tracked carnivores.
As I recall, they didnt have much of a sense of humor either. Unlike
crows who delight in messing with you and being messed with.

Gunner


================================================= =
please reply to:
JRR(zero) at yktvmv (dot) vnet (dot) ibm (dot) com
================================================= =

" ..The world has gone crazy. Guess I'm showing my age...
I think it dates from when we started looking at virtues
as funny. It's embarrassing to speak of honor, integrity,
bravery, patriotism, 'doing the right thing', charity,
fairness. You have Seinfeld making cowardice an acceptable
choice; our politicians changing positions of honor with
every poll; we laugh at servicemen and patriotic fervor; we
accept corruption in our police and bias in our judges; we
kill our children, and wonder why they have no respect for
Life. We deny children their childhood and innocence- and
then we denigrate being a Man, as opposed to a 'person'. We
*assume* that anyone with a weapon will use it against his
fellowman- if only he has the chance. Nah; in our agitation
to keep the State out of the church business, we've
destroyed our value system and replaced it with *nothing*.
Turns my stomach- " Chas , rec.knives

In article , Gunner says...

Yup. They are actually lighter than they look, what with hollow bones
etc. A big one is not something you want to hold are arms length for
too long though....

Today must be 'large bird day.' On the way back from work,
we drove around the croton reservoir. There was one red
tail hawk sitting by the roadside, and two turkey vultures.

I think maybe it's too cold for them to fly, they just seemed
to be hanging out.

Jim

==================================================
please reply to:
JRR(zero) at yktvmv (dot) vnet (dot) ibm (dot) com
==================================================