Pecking Sounds

Pecking Sounds For several days, I was both annoyed and worried. Annoyed by the pecking sounds; worried over possible damage to my house by something that I could not readily figure out. I suspected it to be a rat or a squirrel, perhaps trapped under the roof of my house. I pecked back with annoying sounds of my own, hoping to scare it away, whatever it was. It would quieten for a while only to resumed the pecking. Finally I decided to climb a latter and peep between an opened space between a built on patio and the main roof of my house. Bingo. There he was, a squirrel looking in my direction as if to say, "May I help you?" I suspected that he had found a place to dry out from the heavy rains we have been getting in Northern California. I tried to frighten him, but he only ran toward the other end. Clearly, the two of us were not going to occupy the same property, but I was not about to climb up and down the latter from one end of the roof to the other. I devised a plan to extricate Mr. Squirrel from my roof. This took longer than I anticipated. At first, I tried to build a lightweight 'bow and arrow', not to injure but with just enough force to convince him to leave. This plan failed. So I pieced some curtain rods together, making them long enough to reach Mr. Squirrel. Bingo. They were just strong enough and long enough. I was now rather pleased with my home made device for squirrel extrication. I then headed back outside with my extension pole, climbed the ladder, and began to push my pole through the open space. As I proceeded to do this, I peeped in to take a look at Mr. Squirrel. Mr. Squirrel was gone. Had he told me that he was leaving, I could have saved a lot of work. Anyway, if he or his friends or relatives come back, I'll be ready for them. 02222017 cj PS Contest, An Unwanted Quest, Shadow Hamilton