The most annoying animal in Alaska

"They do it because they enjoy it!"

Small, rodent like, fury, scavengers! From the title of this blog entry, and my current location, you might have thought that I was finally going to complain about mosquitoes. But honestly they don't bug me (pardon the pun) nearly as much as these tricky creatures. Allow me to elaborate...

I have been involved in a constant battle with the local squirrels for the past couple of weeks. They make me so angry I wish I could scare them back into hibernation! Although I've known about my little thieves for a while, the real battle started two weekends ago when my second cousin Elizabeth came to visit.

The weatherport is set up so that my sleeping space is separated from the public kitchen by a makeshift wall made from a cotton sheet and a heavier blanket. So during the day I tie the blanket back, and every night I pull it down. Well, Elizabeth came to Calypso from a 12 day hike in Denali Park, so without question I gave her my bed and decided to sleep on one of the couches in the kitchen area. The second morning she was here "the incident" occured (aka. my first weatherport thief viewing). I had of course been hearing the squirrels chirping away outside the weatherport for a while... but this time was different, I had a front row seat to the debauchery in my home!

The incident went like this:
at 7am they started
first...
I heard squirrel chirping
then....
I heard some scratching on the outside of the weatherport roof
next...
I saw a little squirrel head pop down from the top of the weather port window
finally... when they had decided it was safe enough...
the squirrel popped in the weather port window
subsequently I.....
jumped up and started screaming at him TO GET THE HELL OUT OF MY KITCHEN!

Since then... we have been at war. In the sense that I try different tactics to keep them out and they, without hesitation, always find a way in. They are in the worst way SUPER SQUIRRELS.

Cara, Spencer and my moves:
a. I pluged up the hole they had created at the top of one of my plastic windows
their move.... come in through the bottom gap in my door
b. Cara screwed a wood plank underneath the door so that they couldn't squeaze through
their move....chew through my other window in a decisively secret place that I
couldn't see until this past Wednesday.
c. Cara and I stapled chicken wire to the outside of the plastic windows and tucked it under the outer canvas so that they couldn't weasel their way in.
their move....has yet to be determined, but I heard them this morning chirping
inside the weatherport, and when I tried to sneak up on them I heard them run out.

My next move will be to shoot one, skin him and eat him for dinner.... just kidding.... maybe......

The problem with squirrels is that once they stake out a good spot to find food, they don't go away. I've heard stories from people who have killed squirrels in their backyards, and they say that the very next day there's a different one staking out the spot. So even though I've squirrel proofed all of the food in the weatherport, they still come in... and they still wake me up by chirping early in the morning right in front of my wool blanket makeshift wall.

All I can say, is that the war is not over yet.

ps. there are new pictures posted

CORRECTION: I think the squirrels have been chirping outside the window of the weatherport because they CAN'T GET IN! We'll see how long I can keep them out....