A friend of mine asked on social media a few weeks ago who was to blame for the hole in her garbage canter. She saw a jagged opening on the lid that wasn’t there before as she rolled it down her driveway. Was it a worker in sanitation? Did it have a purpose?
A couple other folks commented that they had also seen holes in their toters and were unsure of their origins and causes. I knew the answer the moment I saw the message.
National Squirrel Appreciation Day
It’s National Squirrel Appreciation Day today, by coincidence. Even though I value their contribution to the environment, this article focuses more on how bothersome they can be. I now realize that my personal conflicts with the squirrels in the Dogwood-Azalea neighborhood of Owensboro are purely “first-world problems.” But they’ve also been funny and infuriating, and they might help you solve some of the riddles you might encounter.
Squirrels VS. Spectrum
We were experiencing the worst internet service a few years back. Our coverage was patchy at best, despite our repeated calls to our service provider to go through the hassle of unplugging and restarting, etc. Ethernet cables, routers, and everything else were replaced.
A young man who was bold enough to fix the situation eventually arrived after a few visits from very helpful service personnel. Outside, he found that the line had been chewed by squirrels! There was barely enough time for us to have some service, but not enough for it to be satisfactory. Everything was fixed after he performed his magic.
Squirrels Love Pancakes
The following year, I became aware of the topics my friends were discussing on Facebook. Our trash toter’s lid has a hole on the edge. It seemed to happen overnight and was roughly the size of a grapefruit. My family was working in the yard one day. I heard some rustling and squeaking coming from within the toter when I was digging weeds on the side of the house.
I got up, glanced over to see what was going on, and then went over to investigate. Suddenly, a squirrel emerged from the hole carrying a whole pancake! I was giggling uncontrollably. Despite being scared away by my loud cackling, the squirrel managed to hold onto the snack and fled. Despite the fact that the pancake was larger than it was, the squirrel flew up a tree and along the driveway before locating a secure spot to enjoy its breakfast.
The light bulb went out as I approached the toter. When I looked at the toter hole, I saw that there were tiny teeth marks all the way around the edge. It had been a long game for that creature. In order to go dumpster diving whenever it felt hungry, it chewed the hole.
If your garbage canter has an enigmatic hole, I’m willing to wager that it was made by a squirrel. You might want to leave your garbage squirrel a pancake as a token of gratitude since today is their special day.
