Flying Chipmunks, Voles and Mice

When we returned from vacation we found another meadow vole Barney left for us inside his cat door into our middle bedroom we use as our office. The vole was soft and already out of rigor when we returned hone. Later I found telltale innards in another room, perhaps a heart and liver. Thanks for the presents Barney

Before we left for vacation Barney brought in a live chipmunk. Barney dropped the chipmunk and I quickly got Barney out of the bedroom. The chipmunk ran under the desk. I couldn't think of a way to get the chipmunk out from under the little space under the desk. We blocked off the door in the bedroom to the rest of the home. We proceeded to make a plan. We opened the french door to the front screen room and the door of the screen room to the outer deck. Try as we might we couldn't get the chipmunk to come out from under the desk.

Finally Gary thought of using a can of compressed air to scare the chipmunk out from under the desk. We blocked off the right side of the desk and skirted him under the left side. Then with judicious use of the compressed air we coaxed the chipmunk onto the screen porch. After that an escape of monumental proportions proceeded at lightening speed. The chipmunk ran onto the porch, out the screen door, and flew off the second story deck, and ran across the yard and into the woods below in less than a minute or two. To this day we're amazed such a diminutive critter could survive the flight off the deck, and then still run into the woods below. Live long, live free little chipmunk.

Yesterday Barney came into the middle bedroom through the cat door at a rapid pace. His swift gait alerted me to a not-so-usual circumstance. I called out to Barney and he dropped a small mouse. The mouse quickly ran under the desk where I was sitting. Once again I got Barney out of the room and closed the door. I blocked the underside of the bedroom door with a rolled up towel. I blocked off the front of the desk with books.

I called Gary to help me extricate the mouse. Unlike the chipmunk the mouse was much smaller; he could squeeze between the books under the desk and was more fearful of the compressed air. After almost half an hour of blocking and coaxing we finally got the mouse out onto the screen room. We quickly closed the bedroom french door because the mouse hesitated and we feared he'd run right back into our home. All in a day's work, another critter saved from an untimely death. Meanwhile we're expecting three inches of snow; stay tuned for a photo report soon.