I don't have a picture...

...so I'll have to use 1000 words.

MODIFIED 11-18-2010

I'm really just writing this up because I want to remember it. I don't expect anyone to find it as amusing as I do.

For who knows how long we've had a squirrel living in our fireplace. Around 12:30 everyday I'd hear "thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk, clonk, rattle, rattle, rattle, rattle." Coming from the fireplace. I'd been trying to convince Br to get it out since I was too weirded out to just look at the thing let alone try to get it out. Br assured me he didn't want to deal with the thing as much as I didn't.

A couple nights ago we/he rigged up a complex system of tunnels and barriers in hopes that when we opened the fireplace it would run right out the door. We opened the screen and it was nowhere to be found--until of course around 12:30 the next afternoon when I heard the thunk, rattle, rattle again.

We thought about turning the fireplace on and smoking the thing out, but I was afraid it would catch on fire and I didn't really want to know what burning squirrel looks or smells like. Plus E expressed that he wanted his squirrel alive not dead.

Fast forward to yesterday right after church. A friend came over to drop some stuff off. He looked into the fireplace and said we should just get it out. He accepted our offer of gloves but at first insisted he didn't need a jacket to cover his arms. Well skip through a little more planning, actually looking at the squirrel and then some rethinking, to two men standing in front of the fireplace with their wives sitting on the other side of the room holding the dog (to use as a backup plan). Despite seeming like he was just going to reach in with his bare hands and grab the thing just a few minutes earlier, our friend now stood there with a winter coat and leather gloves on holding a flashlight "deferring to the man of the house" while he spotlighted the squirrel. Also covered as much as possible, Br reached in with a pair of tongs and his hand and with crazy good skill/luck grabbed the thing on his first attempt. I'm not going to be able to describe what happened next with the justice it deserves but Br immediately ran to the back yard semi screaming, had a failed launch because the squirrel grabbed onto his glove as it tried to bite him, then the squirrel went flying through the air after a little shaking and second launch attempt. The long furry mass went one way, landed and ran off to the trees while Brad quickly turned around and ran towards the house. The rest of us (who were too chicken to face the beast ourselves) stood laughing harder than we have in a long time. There has never been a moment in my life that I wish I'd had a video camera as much as right then.
(Br wanted me to make the following two corrections. It was not a scream. It was a war cry and he was only running back to the house to close the door to make sure it didn't have a chance to get in again).

A big shout out to my studly husband who freed our home from the furry invader! I think we're all glad we no longer have a hairy squatter in our fireplace.