A Squirel of a Christmas

This Christmas has been by far the most memorable Christmas ever. Six adults, six children, three large dogs, and a family of nine flying squirrels, all under one roof!
The adventure began with us loading, no correct that, stuffing our four kids, luggage, and Christmas presents into our van for a nine hour drive to PA that should have only taken six. We arrive safe and sound and very late for dinner. Over dinner my mother explains that there is a critter living in the house somewhere. She thought it was a mouse at first because of the droppings she was finding on the floor and so, set a trap, but the trap never sprung. She began to notice that the droppings were always in the same place so she looked up and noticed some more evidence. Based on the new evidence running down her wall she now thought she had a bat and promptly called the exterminator.
My mother and her husband live in a log home and ever since they built it they have been having problems with the wildlife thinking that these new heated horizontal trees make a much better home than the unheated vertical trees they are used to living in.
When the exterminator came and looked at the evidence he knew right away that he was dealing with a flying squirrel. Well, I have never seen a flying squirrel before so after I heard that I followed him around like a shadow hoping to see one and see one I did! He went out on the roof to see where they got in and when he bumped his ladder against the roof two of them popped out and glided to a near by tree. He found three holes in the side of the house and plugged them so they couldn't get back in but told my mom that there may be more in there that didn't come out and it may cause them to come down into her bedroom.
That night my brother arrived with his wife and two children making 12 people now in the house, at night the three dogs come up to spend the night in my mom's bedroom. She has two Rhodesian Ridgebacks, natural born hunters, and one Standard Poodle, so these dogs are big. All was quite till about 10:00 pm when the dogs started barking, the squirrels were out on the roof trying to get back in. We shooed them off and all was quiet after that, we thought they were gone.
The next morning we went out to investigate the roof plugs that the exterminator placed in the holes and found that the squirrels were successful in removing the plugs which meant the squirrels were back in the house. So we went for a ladder to re-plug the holes and again when the ladder made noise on the roof the two squirrels came out but this time they were mad and wouldn't get off the roof. My step-father slowly climbed the ladder and one of the squirrels lunged at him to try to keep him away from "their front door" but as he got closer they decided to glide off. Now that the two squirrels were gone again we could plug the hole better this time. My husband Nathan joined my step father Jim on the roof while my brother Larry, the photographer, was down below taking pictures of the event and the rest of us were on the deck watching. We noticed two hawks hovering over the house; they must have seen the squirrels fly off the roof that were now on a close by tree watching us. The one hawk tucked his wings and made a dive right for us on the deck, just then two other squirrels ran out of the hole onto the roof and quickly flew off with the hawk in hot pursuit, he missed them. Thinking that there couldn't possibly be any more squirrels in there my husband tries to approach the hole again and one more ran out, down the roof past him and Jim, then hid behind a window frame instead of flying off. After catching their breath Nathan and Jim tried again to approach the hole and two more rushed out of the hole and off the roof for a total of 7 squirrels that came out of one hole. Finally they got the hole plugged and amazingly enough no one fell off the roof and the rest of the day was quiet, squirrel wise, until.........
It was the night before Christmas and all through the house not a creature was stirring not even a, SQUIRREL! The dogs started pacing back and forth and their whining got louder until finally a loud WOOF! The whole family got up to see what was the matter, we all looked up to see that two squirrels were the clatter. One squirrel was captured and put back outside but the other got scared and decided to hide. The squirrel remained hidden until the following night, that is until the dog had him in her sights. Around and around the bed they went until Jim said I've had enough and went for the pellet gun in the basement. He didn't want to do it but it had to be done, chasing a squirrel just wasn't much fun.
Now all the squirrels are gone and Christmas is done and I hope next Christmas brings just as much fun.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everybody!