Surprise in the Fire Place

So, i get home and my wife and daughter say they have heard something in the chimney all day. I listen, invesitgate and hear nothing. about 3 hours later they want a fire. Our fireplace is an insert so it can double as a wood burning stove. so i fire it up and shut the doors and run it as the stove. About 10 min into a good rolling fire i see what i thought was logs shifting until i saw some feet jumping hysterically up and down in the flames.


Poor Squirrel.

Boy, how did that smell?

well, thats the kicker. I have a great draft up the chimney, so it was fine until we decided it wasnt breathing. So we gently opened the doors and the smell was still wafting up the chimney. we placed the firewood basket right next to the fireplace and with the little coal shovel i grabbed its little arm and hand that were frozen in its death grip and flicked it into the basket. There was a mad dash to the front door. The smell was fine for about 4 seconds then the main floor smelled like burnt hair for about 15 min.

It is gone now.

I hoist a brew to you my squirrel friend.

Yummy, I'm sure.

I got two birds in my wood burning stove once. The cats were going nuts trying to get them. What a PITA.

My In-Laws get bats AND squirrels in their house all the time. The squirrels keep chewing through the soffit on the house and getting in the attic. Last time we spent the night there I got up in the middle of the night to see a bat swooping around the house. I don't mind them, but when my 2 year old daughter is sleeping in the same room it kind of freaks me out.

Damn...

More precisely, Daaaammmmnnnnn.

I've been an enemy of the rodent for a long time. Purely by accident. The most famous of which was when I scared one that ran up a utility pole where it climbed on top of a transformer, grabbed one of the legs and electrocuted his little furry nut-gathering self.

Roasting one over an open fire is a holiday tradition I'd rather not start.


Ize

I remember as teenagers, the neighbor lady of my friends came over frantic. Squirrel in the Fireplace, and she needed us strapping young lads to get it out. Despite what porn has taught me, there was no sex reward. Instead, there were 4 frightened teenage boys and one extremely frightened squirrel running around outside after we coaxed it out of the fireplace and out of the house.

Cheesefood said:

Squirrel in the Fireplace, and she needed us strapping young lads to get it out. Despite what porn has taught me, there was no sex reward.

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That would be the perfect setup. Have you seen the Walker San busted post?

We had a family of raccoons in the chimney of our lake house one time. Though it was birds, so we started a small fire to smoke them out. Opened the vent and out fell two small raccoons. Imagine the suprise .... Luckily we had a screen over the fireplace and got an animal control guy to get them out.

My business partner is a friend to all of the critters. She's had raccoons & skunks in the house eating the cat food. I'm really amazed the raccoons haven't killed any of her cats. My house was built by country folk & it's critter proof. Which is good, as I have everything from mice & gophers to raccoons & bobcats to deer & elk running around outside.

I'd check and make sure they didn't leave a nest inside the chimney. Bad situation to have a chimney fire.