first blood

The squirrels were really getting to me, so I decided to take decisive action and got a squirrel trap from Home Depot. It's basically a long wire box with trap doors on either end and a tray in the middle where you put peanut butter as bait.

I set up the trap close to where the squirrels were burrowing, on top of the air conditioning unit about 20 feet from the ground. The first few days were fruitless - sometimes the trap would get set off by rain or wind, and sometimes the squirrels would get inside to munch on the peanut butter without triggering the doors. They probably thought I gave up, and was giving them a peace offering. Finally, one day I came home to find the trap thrown onto the driveway - it followed approximately the same trajectory as those moth balls I was trying to use to drive the squirrels away.

Still, I regrouped, tied up the trap, adjusted the trigger - and today, I'm happy to report I have my first POW!

Beforehand, Susan and I had a long conversation about what to do with the captives. It went approximately as follows:

Me: ... so the guy at the store suggested that I drown them, but I feel bad - I'll probably just drive them somewhere...
Susan: And have the cage rattle in the trunk? Nah, you should totally kill them!
Me: Wow, talk about being bloodthirsty! Well, OK, how would I drown them?
Susan: I dunno... maybe in a kiddie pool or something?
Me: So you're saying I should get a pool just for drowning squirrels?
Susan: You're right. You know, our neighbors have a pool...