Saturday, November 04, 2006

I Think There's a Squirrel in the Chimney

As I was sitting on the couch nursing the baby this morning at 6:30 (she slept in today, woo-hoo!), I was startled by bang, clang, clattering noise coming from the fireplace. This was followed by more banging and distinct claw-like scratching noises for quite a while. I'm wondering if one of the myriad squirrels that like to prance across our roof each morning somehow found its way down the chimney. I guess it could be a bird, but it didn't really sound fluttery enough. Then again, it could have been the wind, but it wasn't that windy out this morning. I, for one, am NOT opening the flue for any reason. I just have no desire to see a little furry or feathery head peeking out at me. I'm all for nature and animals in the wild, I just don't desire to see them in my house!

Why do these things always seem to happen when my husband is off doing his army drill weekends? Both times I've sprained my ankle were on a drill weekend (the second one while pregnant with our second child - gracefulness has never really been a defining trait with me). Also, the time I shredded the back tire on the van and had a flat on the other car happened not just with him gone for a weekend, but when he was gone for 6 months in Iraq. I am so thankful for husband's good friend and boss who kindly came over and changed both tires for me so I wouldn't be stranded with two little boys and no transportation. Oh, and that was the evening I was supposed to be going down to the church for directory pictures to be taken. Thanks to this kind friend the boys and I made it to that appointment - late and a bit disheveled, but our pictures made the directory. The hardest thing that happened while he was gone, though, was that one week after he left for Iraq, I suffered my third miscarriage. That was tough to face with Hubby away, but God's grace is truly sufficient.

Back to wild animals and the house. I haven't heard any noise from the chimney in a couple of hours. I hope whatever it was got out and is now leading a productive little life somewhere away from my chimney. I sincerely hope it hasn't died in there. My middle child likes to surprise mommy every now and then with a toy bug, frog or snake on my pillow. The only one that kind of really bothers me is the snake. I really, really, really do not like snakes. (Well, actually I'm that way about frogs, too. Just ask my husband about the time I called him at work in a near panic because there was a frog sitting ON THE TOILET SEAT.) When this same child came in all excited that he'd found a real snake skin out in the yard right by the front porch, mind you, I had to swallow my revulsion and be excited for his sake. Then an awful thought struck me and I got very serious and sat both boys down and said that I know the toy bugs and things are really funny, but if they EVER put a real snake in my bed, they don't even want to know how NOT FUNNY that would be. I think I would have to move. Hopefully they believed me.

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