Unexpected guests

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

So… Price Club/Costco started putting out their Christmas stuff in November. We saw some things that we thought would make nice gifts and bought them and put them on the bed in the guest room to await wrapping and shipment. Stuff accumulated and I should have begun wrapping but, of course I didn’t. So the bed got more and more cluttered with stuff.

Sometime mid to late November, we noticed a bad smell that seemed to be originating in the guest room. Looked under the bed, under the radiators, behind the dresser & bookcase, in the closet. Nothing. The odor persisted for a while, and then began to dissipate. I checked around a couple of more times and still found nothing that could be the source of the odor but, since it was rapidly diminishing, it ceased to concern me.

Finally got around to wrapping and mailing most of the gifts.

Saturday, December 18. Mother-in-law arrives in the afternoon. I’m not ready, so my husband goes to the airport while I finish getting the stuff out of the guestroom, etc. And I really ought to make the bed for her – not leave it for her to do for herself.

OK. Sheets are freshly laundered.

Pull the bedspread off the bed, and THERE IT IS! A very very flat DEAD SQUIRREL! Surprised???. I bet I jumped a good 6 inches off the floor.

Can’t imagine how it got there. But I must have squished it when I put the stuff on the bed. Fortunately, there were no wounds, so it didn’t bleed or anything, and washing the mattress pad got rid of any residual odor.

Can you imagine if I’d forgotten to make the bed?? My 87 year old mother-in-law finding that poor little creature???

By the way, Mom doesn’t know she almost had a roommate.

Anybody else have an unexpected holiday guest?

2

How on earth did a squirrel get into your bedroom?

Or do you live in one of those warm places, where you don’t need screens on windows?

As for your original question, we’ve had bats every year at about this time. Not sure how they get in – we’ve given up trying to find out. Apparently they don’t need much of a entryway.

Hubby’s totally chicken about them, so I get elected to scurry them out of the house.

One time, I noticed the cat sitting in the middle of the living room floor, his head sort of going in circles, staring up at the ceiling fan. He was watching a bat, who was (maybe?) trying to land on one of the fan blades.

Another year, I thought I was seeing double in the cat room – an extra came in with my two, and he looked just like one of ours. “Wait, we have one tabby and one tuxedo – or is it two tabbies …?”

It was very weird till I figured it out. (I don’t kid around about Alzheimer’s.)

3

We’re on 5 wooded acres in the foothills above Boulder, CO - at about 7.600 ft. Double glazed windows, screens, storm doors. We have no idea how it could have gotten into the house!

We get the occasional mouse (keeps the cats in trainin), but nothing bigger. This little guy was a Chickoree, smaller than the usual squirrel but bigger than a ground squirrel.

We’re on the lookout for possible entry points.

4

Maybe your cat brought it in. Found it dead outside and stowed it in the bed.

Poor little bugger.

5

I once had a live finch in my house. I’ve found dead ones, too, but I figure the cats brought 'em in. I have no idea how the live one got in - I was in the kitchen one day this summer, and noticed my cats and the dog running around chasing something. Further investigation revealed a finch flying around from window to window, trying to get outside. As I’ve had parakeets as pets, I knew that it’s not too hard to grab a bird, so the next time it took a rest I scooped it up and put it outside. Still don’t know how the heck the bugger got in.