IMG_0174, originally uploaded by Prince of Petworth.

From a reader:

“I know you’ll appreciate this. Yesterday evening, after getting back from Giant, my roommate and I saw this crazy squirrel trying to get into our house. The windows were open, and it was trying to get through the screen, so we closed them. This guy would not give up, and was still there 20 minutes later. Attempts to scare him off had absolutely no effect. I also suspect he might be responsible for popping out one of our railings, you can see it in the picture. Have you heard of rabid squirrels around or is this just standard craziness?”

My war on squirrels is fairly well documented. I am embarrassed to admit that at times I’ve also had difficulty scaring them off my porch. I don’t think they are rabid though. I think they are brilliant tacticians and are just trying to drive us crazy. I’ve never had one try to break into my house but I did have one break into my car and change all the radio presets. You see they are just messing with our heads. The best advice I can give is that a water gun never fails. I also find yelling YIP, YIP, YIP, in quick succession can scare the rookies. But for the veterans I recommend you go straight for the water gun.