Living in a rural area on a fairly wooded property, we have a whole array of critters around. We have so many squirrels that you can often find 5-6 playing tag together. Coons are no strangers, either. You might even remember
Sneaky the possum that hung around for a few weeks.
But we have a whole bunch of chipmunks. As cute as they might seem, they certainly aren't nice little critters. Ask Preston, who picked one up last summer and got bitten, sending us into a day-long ordeal to make sure chipmunks weren't a rabies risk...
Today's adventure, though, took the cake! I'd went down into the laundry room to do some laundry and noticed Nonnie sitting and staring at the crawlspace. I didn't think much of it until I heard squeaking. I got Christopher and told him we had a critter. He came in and heard it and said it had to be a chipmunk. He opened the crawlspace and saw one. He told me to run to the garage and get the trap, then sent me upstairs to get some bait while he kept the chipmunk from getting in the house. By the time I got back, he looked in and found two more. Still planning on trapping them, he shined the flashlight into the crawlspace and commented that they were fighting. Then he said, "They're mating! GET THE BB GUN!" I ran upstairs and got the gun and met Kate on the stairs coming down. The look on her face was priceless! She later told me she thought I was going to shoot her dad! Unfortunately, I had to hold the flashlight on the unsuspecting victims while Christopher shot them. I will say that he's a good shot because it only took one shot for each one to go down. He then had to crawl in and get them and pulled out two nests in the process. They were getting in under the alcove in our kitchen, so he went out and blocked it all off. We'll see how long that lasts since we know all too well how they can dig under just about everything to get in!
So yes, this afternoon was pretty exciting. Three chipmunks met their untimely demise, but we've already seen more on the patio since then. Hibernation is over!
