Accursed squirrel

When I woke up Tuesday morning, it was -18F, with a -36F windchill. Wednesday morning was slightly warmer (-8F with a -22F windchill or somesuch). I managed to work from home both days – will today (also to be bitterly cold) be the day my boss demands my presence at the office? Can’t he just wait until Friday, when the projected +9F means I might not even need a coat?! 😉 (Update, Thursday, 1/15/2009, 7:30 am CST: It’s -21F. *whimper*)

It’s good I was home Tuesday afternoon, because otherwise I would never have known how this happened:

A squirrel clung to the side of my building (I’m on the third floor) and gnawed a hole in my nearly brand new screen while two very overwrought black kitties thumped their (obviously ineffective) Paws O’ Death against the glass mere inches away. Yeah, it was really cold out there if dying a bloody death was looking good to that insane squirrel.

Reading Update
Dawn’s Awakening (The Breeds, Book 4) and Mercury’s War (The Breeds, Book 16) by Lora Leigh. Ok, so technically Mercury’s War is the fifth book, but apparently it’s the 16th story if you count everything that’s been in anthologies and whatnot, so the numbering went really weird. Whatever. These continue to not be the best written stuff you’ll find. They also continue to be pretty graphic. Mercury’s War had several gaping plot holes to make the story work. Only – it didn’t really, because hello! Plot holes.
Flat-Out Sexy by Erin McCarthy. Steamy, well-written NASCAR romance with a sequel on the way.
Wait Till Your Vampire Gets Home (Broken Heart, Oklahoma, Book 4) by Michelle Bardsley. Very light, chick litty paranormal romance. Best quote: “Yep… We need a loogie from a real dragon.”
On the Prowl (Tales of an Urban Werewolf, Book 2) by Karen MacInerney. Austin werewolf Sophie Garou returns in the second book of this series. I have no qualms about continuing to follow her adventures.
All I Want for Christmas is a Vampire (Love at Stake, Book 5) by Kerrelyn Sparks. Ok vampire tale – not great, but definitely readable.
Fangs But No Fangs (The Young Brothers, Book 2) by Kathy Love. A blogging vampire living in a trailer park and waiting tables at a karaoke bar? Yup.
Unravel Me by Christie Ridgway. The second in this chick lit knitting series was another good read. (The next book, out in June, will be Dirty Sexy Knitting. Hee hee.)
Dog Days by John Levitt. The first in a newish urban fantasy series about Mason, a San Francisco jazz guitarist and magic practitioner, and his dog/ifrit, Lou. I’ll definitely keep reading – in fact, the next book is already in my TBR stack.
A Hunger Like No Other, No Rest for the Wicked, Wicked Deeds on a Winter’s Night, and Dark Needs at Night’s Edge (The Immortals After Dark, Books 1-4) by Kresley Cole. Ok, I let the traditional romance-style covers of the first few books in this series scare me away for quite a while, but I’m glad I got past that (and not just because the guy on the cover of Book 4 is so hot) – this is an excellent paranormal series. Highly recommended (sorry, Carrie K – while there are werewolves, there are also vampires).


“It is ever so exhausting having Mom home all the time, because I have to keep track of her and bring her fetch toys to throw for me every time she goes to sit down on that shiny white chair.” -Mayhem

51 thoughts on “Accursed squirrel”

  1. Okay, Minnesota is now on the “list of places I can’t ever live”. (I’m freezing and it’s a balmy 25 degrees here – that’s above zero.)

    Poor desperate squirrel!

  2. So, did the squirrel survive another day? 🙁

    Oh, and Gandalf sez that if you know what the shiny white chair is, to let him know because his Mom always disappears in the room where it is, and he gets a little separation anxiety at times.

  3. OMG.. forget that crap! Its 23F here in Georgia (and will be 14F tonight) and I’m ready to retreat to somewhere tropical… I can’t even THINK about -18F, my brain might just freeze solid. I don’t blame that squirrel at all for trying to get in.. I’d risk being mauled by kitties to stay warm too!! He was probably freezing his *nuts* off. HAA-HAA-HAA!!

  4. Mayhem, you just keep up the good work, exhausting as it may be. That stinks about the screen, but it’s hard to be mad at a critter when it’s do durned cold. I hope it warms up back there soon.

  5. That is just TOO cold (and I can’t even imagine how cold it truly is, I’m sure)!

    Poor squirrel! He was FREEZING! Do Chaos & Mayhem know just how pampered they are in their cozy and warm house? 😉

  6. LOL@Mouse!!

    Have you ever noticed how when it gets that cold you don’t really even register 10 below as being “warmer” than 20 below? It’s just friggin’ cold. Cold cold cold.

    Your squirrel was probably looking for food on account of there being no acorns this year. 🙁

  7. CTJen – yep. There comes a point where you just call it “freakishly cold”, bundle up, and move on. I’m just very, very thankful that I am no longer in college where I had to walk across a very large, open parking lot on the top of a hill to get to classes. It was cold enough in the winter that I used to take my earrings out before crossing the parking lot or I could feel the posts freeze. Brr!

  8. Dirty Sexy Knitting? Sounds…interesting.

    I was in and out all day yesterday and by the time I finally got home, at 9pm, I was an ice block. I couldn’t get warm. I went to bed in sweats and socks. It’s freakin’ COLD.

  9. Mayhem, At our house, when someone sits on the shiny white chair, it’s the only time birds try to escape out from the bottom of the door. Intersting phenomena. Did you scare away the squirrel with your teeth?
    ~ Rufus and Ruby ~
    p.s. a balmy +29F here.

  10. This is the only time of year that I am grateful to be on the wrong side of Lake Michigan. The main thing the water does for West Michigan is make never-ending-cloudy-days. But at least we don’t get as cold as you. Although, it was -2 when I looked earlier. Brrr. Break out the layers of polar fleece!

  11. It was 21 below (but sunny!) while I waited for the bus this morning, wearing tights, long underwear (bottom and top), moleskin pants, sweater, wool socks, insulated boots, shin-length down parka with hood, hand-knit scarf around my face, earflap hat, gloves AND mittens! It’s supposed to be the same tomorrow morning – I’m trying to figure out if I can take the day off!

    And I have to admit a fondness for squirrels — yours sounds very brave! I hope he found a warm place to hide!

  12. I think this is just normal squirrel behavior. In college, a squirrel chewed through my window screen, and it couldn’t have been anywhere near as cold as in MN. He was just trying to get to the box of chocolates I was trying to keep cold by storing in between glass and screen.

  13. I’m with Michaele on this being “normal.” I used to keep pet rats (much to my dog’s enjoyment) and they absolutely loved to chew through wire. Their favorite, really.

    HOWEVER, those temperatures might drive me to chew through wire. Good grief. Balmy here in Texas today, compared to that.

  14. Wow, I don’t know how I’d be if that occurred while I was home. Poor May & Chaos. I know when I work at home it drives my animals nuts — apparently I’m interupting their normal routine. I’m afraid to know what that is.

  15. My memories of living in northern MN are that once the temp hits -20℉ I couldn’t tell the difference, except that the inside of my nose froze faster.

    I got the giggles, macabre as it may seem, over the image of the squirrel fighting to get to Certain Death By Kitties.

  16. I’ve been cold all week, and it was 12 this morning (too cold for me to go running). I need to figure out what to wear during this, or I’m going to turn into a slug by the end of the winter!

  17. Your kitty plays toilet-toy too? One of our cats brings her toy of the moment (usually an orange carrot – so the game is actually toilet-carrot) to us repeatedly. I can’t count the number of times I’ve had to wash the toy in the washing machine – because sometimes when she wants to drink from the toilet there is a toy in her mouth – therefore, the only logical thing for her to do is put the toy in the toilet and then drink… yuck! So into the washing machine it goes.

  18. Poor cold suicidal squirrel.

    I hope you got to stay home, that’s just cold. Cold. Cold! Yikes.

    Dog Days sounds good! Can’t be too many novels based in SF.

  19. A kitty’s work is never done.

    It’s got to be pretty darn cold for a squirrel to risk certain death to stay warm. On the other hand, squirrels will chew almost anything. It’s supposed to be 8F here tonight with a wind chill of -10. Sounds almost balmy compared to you guys.

  20. I’m shivering just at the mention of your temps, we are having a heatwave then compared to you. Wow I can’t believe the squirrel did that. I’ll have to check out Unravel Me, I thought I had read all the knitting books, but this series I have’nt read yet.

  21. sounds like pot o soup and knitting at home weather to me, of course that doesn’t seem to pay the bills….sucks! Whoah on the little furry squirrel!

  22. Chris, I really LOVE Kresley Cole’s Immortals After Dark series. You know the new one is out? The release date is supposed to be 1/20 but it seems to be out there already.

    I thought the first few were a little uneven — I’d like one, then not the next too much, then a good one… Holly and Cole are my absolute FAVORITES though, so I’m looking forward to more Rage Demon in this newest one.

  23. SAME HERE! Some lunatic squirrel ate a huge hole into our window screen! Problem is we like to open the window during the winter and now we can’t! I think dogs handle squirrels better than kitties – sorry May and Chaos.

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