All things zoo, squirrel and Easter!

So we've had a pretty eventful few weeks! Last weekend I was able to go up to DC and spend a day with my sister Sharon and her son Cedar as they were on their way back from a trip to Turkey. Cedar was still on Turkey time and wide awake constantly (I think I'm starting to learn the fine art of paying attention to a child in the middle of the night while you're half asleep). Sharon was a bit more sleepy. We made a brave trek to the National Zoo, where we found out that you get what you pay for; the zoo is free, and thus some of the animals (or a lot of them) seem to not "be on display". Questionable.

So we've been battling a squirrel for a few weeks; it's been getting in through a water tank closet on our deck and hanging out in our neighbor's ductwork. We blocked it up with some wood, which it subsequently chewed through, as well as a chunk of the drywall next to the closet doors. So we thought we'd be smart and put some bricks up. What squirrel can chew through bricks?? Well, what we didn't realize was that the squirrel was either a) already inside when we put the bricks up or b) had another way of getting in. Needless to say, we woke up this fine Easter morn to hearing a squirrel in our ductwork. So we went and removed the bricks, and, sure enough, a little while later we saw it come out. Talk about a fat squirrel! I had no idea there was so much nutritional value in the wood it's been chewing away at. It's a pretty brave guy too. It walked all around on our deck with us watching from the dining room. At its closest, it was about 6 inches away. Mike and I both longed for a beebee gun, something I don't think I've ever wanted before. It was very hard to be Christlike this Sunday.

Alas, we put the bricks back up, and hopefully it will be a big enough deterrent, but we're not too confident. The landlords have been notified, and we'll see what happens. Perhaps our next blog entry will be about squirrel melts . . . .

We had fun dying Easter eggs too! It'll be even more fun when we have a little tyke to "help" us.