Mountain Clams

"I thought I was delusional"

"Dad? There's some odd sound coming from the downstairs fireplace."

"Okay. Show me."

Richard leads me downstairs to the fireplace and stands, patiently waiting for it to make a noise. A moment passes, then "clang, clang." Something is in the chimney, trying to open the flue from the other side. Richard points at the fireplace as if to say, "see!"

I go upstairs and get a flashlight, then have Richard bring me a broom. After sweeping the cobwebs away (we don't use this fireplace), I opened the flue a crack and shined the light in - just enough to see whiskers and a short snout. I wasn't sure what it was, but I wasn't about to let it out. So I closed the flue. I called the person I know who knows the most about animals and the predicaments they find themselves in. Dana told me to call animal control. While I was on the phone, I asked Richard, "when did you first start hearing the noises?"

Richard said, "Yesterday, but I thought I was delusional."

"What?!? Some animal  has been in my chimney for days and you're just now telling me about it?"

"Yeah."

So I called animal control, who an hour later shows up at the door. The officer goes downstairs and opens the flue wide to look in. He sees a mama raccoon and her (at least one) baby in there. Mama climbed up the chimney a ways. His advice is to just wait. Now that the mama knows that we can reach her and her babies, she'll move out. Once she moves out, we just need to re-cap the chimney to make sure they don't get in again. I also read on the internet that I can put some ammonia near the chimney. It's an irritant, and will make them want to move out. Oh, what fun.

Labels: life

posted by Brett @ 9:48 PM