My embarrassing moment of the week

This afternoon, Avery has her friend Adrienne over to play. They have been playing beautifully in the basement, but suddenly came running upstairs, claiming that they are afraid of the "bird outside." I went down into the basement and sure enough, heard what sounded like a baby duck stuck in the window well. It was quacking and scuffling around. I can't see through the window, so I went outside to look, but the window well is under a bush and I couldn't see anything there either. My neighbor was on her porch and said that she had heard it as well and that her cat was going crazy and clawing at the door. There were also several squirrels under the bush. I figured there must be a baby squirrel stuck in the window and that's why all the animals were distressed. My neighbor said that's what she thought too, and suggested that I call the maintenece people to come and get it out.

I called the maintenece folks, and they arrived within a couple of minutes. I poked my head out the front door to see what was caught and saw the maintenece guys laughing. Apparently, there were not one, but two squirrels down there. As the guys explained to me, it's mating season, and the squirrels were, um, well... not stuck. Then, I got a very hepful and nice instructional lecture from the maintenence man about how it's perfectly natural this time of year, and that it's nothing to call for help over. I think he thinks I'm an idiot.

A couple of minutes later, the girls came back upstairs, saying that the noise had started up again and they were scared. I told them the squirrels were playing. This cheered them up, and they were no longer scared of the noises coming from the window well. They said they wanted to go back downstairs to listen to the squirrels giggle. Oye. I'd better call Adrienne's mom....