If I could have laid hands on him. We live on a very old farm, or what it left of it. The house is approximately 200 years old. We also own all the outbuildings, one of which has been dedicated to "The Man Cave". We had used it as the place where we homeschooled all our children, but now that they are gone, my wife told me to do with it as I wished. Anyway...

We heat the building with a wood stove. There is an old chimney in the building from its days as the butcher kitchen or summer kitchen, and the stove is piped into that. Last week I went in to inspect the chimney prior to firing up the stove for the season, only to discover that a SQUIRREL had made it into his personal, brick penthouse. My first inclination was to smoke him out, but immediately thought that might not be such a good idea. I don't need to burn the place down just to get rid of a tree rat. So I called a wildlife removal expert.

He arrived this morning, and with my assistance, spent the morning evicting Mr. Squirrel from my chimney. The process took long enough that I missed my midmorning meal, and am late on lunch besides. My stomach (such as it is) is not happy with me. The squirrel, though homeless, is still in the land of the living. Squirrels are not in season at the moment. Otherwise, he might be stewing in seasoning to pay for his misdeeds, squatting in my chimney like that.

I'm impressed! Three years? We've been here 17 years, and we are still working on the place. The pace has picked up considerably since the last child moved out. We've probably done close to 50% of the inside since then. But when you live in a place that long, pretty soon you find yourself doing stuff you did before, and remembering when you said to yourself, "I pity the poor guy who has to take this apart!"

The last person to get a deer in our family was when Mrs. LittleBill took one out with the Suburban. We took what was left of it to the butcher, and got a whopping 20 lbs of usable meat. It is too scary to hunt around here anymore, but I do love venison.

I have taken two deer out in my life.... One with a cute little Dodge Colt... and the other with my sporty Z28. See i use to live down a gravel road (paved now) in the swamp... (google Brady Rd Theriot, La.) I lived all the way at the end.... Yes a true bayou girl... In the am, if i missed the bus, i would cross the bayou in my pirogue and catch it on the other side.... lol...... Anyway I don't eat deer, rabbit, coon, squirrel, nutria, wild hog.... I use to say, if i can't buy it at the grocery store i won't eat it... But, now our local stores are carrying deer, rabbit, etc.... so i can't say that anymore.

I love to shoot, but not hunt. First, it's toooo damn cold, and i have no more blubber to keep my bones warm. Second, i just can't shoot an animal.... I could probably shot a human before an animal... lol.. Just kidding.... are am i?

So Bill.... tell Mrs. Bill she has one more to hit to catch up with me.... hehehehe

@@bayougirlmrsc She sort of has two to her credit. The second one ran out of the woods and into the side of her car. It survived, and didn't do a lot of damage. We don't really count that one because it hit her, and not the other way around. But that first one, boy, did she paste it!

I love this story and the old farm house charm. Mine is 1890s. Not nearly close to all the work that I'd love to do. I've been there almost 5 years. It will get done. In time

Sent from my 5054N using the BariatricPal App