I searched my apartment and didn't find any trace of a squirrel. My best guess is that the critter pushed his way through, knocked the plants over, freaked out and scurried back outside.
A few days later I pointed the hole out to my super and someone from the co-op board who said that the material around the air conditioner had simply worn out over time. As if! Their solution was to just "get some wood and patch it up." Yeah, like I happen to have a woodworking shop in my one-bedroom apartment. I mean, I'm crafty, but I'm using up all the extra space for my scrapbooking supplies, beadwork stuff, glue gun and tons and tons of yarn. A girl just doesn't have room left for lumber!
I considered calling an exterminator, went online and read everything there was to read about squirrels, and mulled over my next step.
During the journey, I discovered several anti-squirrel web sites. I don't want to upset the folks at PETA (and you do know I love animals), but I hate rodents. It appears that there is a conspiracy at play -- squirrels may be slowly positioning themselves to take over the world. I discovered the well-researched, informative, and, yes, inspiring Scary Squirrel World web site. They do a fantastic job of monitoring the squirrel's quest for world domination, particularly at our nation's campuses.
So, how did I resolve my own issue?
I decided to call an air conditioning installation company, did some googling and discovered Weston Brothers. Cheesy web site (sorry about the music) but, they did a great job. The only problem was that it took two weeks for our schedules to coincide enough for me to get an appointment.
During the waiting period, my pal the squirrel returned. I had been comforting myself with the theory that the hole in the side panel was caused by ordinary wear and tear. One windy, rainy night I was watching telelvision when I noticed that something was pushing against the foam covering up the hole. "It's just the wind," I said to myself. Just to be sure, I took a book and swatted the foam. All of a sudden the pushing stopped. A few minutes later it started up again, and "thwap" went the book. No more pushing. I took some more tape and taped the book over the foam, as tightly as I could.
The next morning I noticed something pushing against the book. There was no rain, and there was no wind! So I took my hand and slapped against the book hard. All of a sudden a squirrel jumped on top of the back of the air conditioner and glared at me through the window.
So much for the theory that it was the weather!
A few days later, I figured out how the squirrel operated. I watched as he climbed up the tree in front of my window, trotted down a branch that reached the fire escape, and then jumped from the fire escape to my window sill. I managed to get rid of him by swatting against the book again. But I also took the heaviest things in the apartment I could find (my dumbbells -- no comment please) and stacked them against the window.
Finally, last week the guys from Weston came and replaced the side panels with plexiglass. It looks great! Haven't seen a squirrel since. Hopefully they've moved on to another target.
Oh, and by the way, I showed my super what a nice job Weston did, and you know what he said to me? "I could have done it for you, why didn't you ask me?" I was, like, "Hello? I told you about this three weeks ago and you told me to go find some wood and fix it myself!"
Now it looks like the ceiling in my bathroom is starting to crack...that will be the next chapter in "As The Co-Op Turns."
Posted by: Sarah | Nov 16, 2005 at 06:06 PM