Squirrels...

I hate squirrels. My undergraduate advisor reinforced this idea when I was out in the field with him one day when he tried to run over a squirrel that ran in front of his car's path. He then told me he also hated squirrels. He continued to demonstrate his hatred for this animal by chasing squirrels off the seed stand and throwing sticks at the squirrel (bad aim of course).  

This past weekend I was awakened by my advisor chopping down a tree (I live at the lab). The tree, which stood about 9 feet, was apparently causing problems since it was basically growing on the house. The tree was chopped down and thrown into the pile of other trees and stuff collected around the farm. Fast forward 12 hours later and I am standing outside talking on my cell phone (since the house has no cell reception-score for me!) and hear something hitting against the side of the house which I find out is the gutter. The cats are, of course, are the first to check it out. After Akasha starts poking at something, I run over to find what poor animal is now her victim-a small squirrel. Afraid of what she may get from the squirrel, I throw the cats inside and try to get the baby squirrel, who is now stuck in the downspout, out into the wild. Minutes later the advisor comes down and frees the animal. We then realize that tree that he chopped down 12 hours earlier was actually their (we assume there are more up there) only way up and down the gutter. So the chopped tree is now back leaning up against the house for those darn squirrels so they don't have to slide down the gutter.