If you need a little giggle, check out Salem’s secretary’s (Jody’s) remembrance of the squirrel who visited the church building last week…

If you watched Salem’s service on Facebook this morning you might have been wondering about the story of the squirrel that somehow made its way into the church.

It all started on Wednesday, May 27 – as we’ve had some problems with the bathrooms in the newest addition lately, I’ve been trying to check them when I get to church. That morning as I was headed back there I was just walking past the couches in the Sunday School addition when I caught some movement out the corner of my right eye – thinking it was a mouse or something I went on back to the bathrooms; when I came back out and looked over by the couch – there sat a squirrel – a very much alive squirrel. Thinking he went under the couch I immediately called Marvin and told him and then went over and shut the door between the Sunday School addition and the hallway going past the fellowship hall. I thought I had him trapped. Allison came and called Dave to come over and we tipped over the couches and the chairs – looked everywhere – no squirrel. I knew I wasn’t losing my mind (or I was pretty sure I wasn’t) I got on our camera system and watched – sure enough the squirrel was caught on tape red handed. Little did I know when I thought he went under the couch – he ran along the front side the couch and out the door – totally out of my eyesight.

Called Jim and he was going to head to church but would stop and borrow a live trap so we could get it trapped. Right before he came, I looked out the window in the office towards the elevator and there sat the little guy. He sat there for some time, so as Allison had walked across the street I called and told her where he was sitting and said to try and open the doors real slow and maybe he would run out, but when he caught sight of her he ran, she thought she saw him run down to the basement. Jim and I went upstairs and Allison went another direction – broom in hand. Pretty soon we hear her screaming – not sure where she was exactly we followed the screams. We found her on the back set of stairs leading to the basement where the squirrel had met her trying to go up. Once he saw her he turned around and ran back down the basement. Now we knew he was in the basement, but where.

In the meantime, Jim had called Merit Bell and he came after work with another live trap. Set that one up and looked everywhere we could think of but no squirrel and so the waiting began. Tom Monke stopped the next morning and in telling him the story he said he had a live trap and so we set up yet another one. Again, we waited. I stopped on Friday and checked – no squirrel. Merit checked over the weekend and no squirrel. That was when I first started to think that he had died somewhere.

On this past Monday I walked thru the glass doors and could start to smell it all ready. Looked and looked for him but couldn’t find him. When I got to church on Wednesday and went downstairs to see what I could see – there flying around is a bird. I couldn’t believe it – what was next. Jim was there and caught the bird easily enough and let him go. He had already found a dead mouse in a trap in the sanctuary. Jim again helped look around but by that time we had pretty much decided he was in the closet where the Sunday School and VBS supplies are in the basement. Went to Fremont to buy some totes to start pulling stuff out of the room and see if I could find him. Jim was there on and off helping to look and helped open a couple of windows to get some much-needed fresh air. Tricia and Dave brought their dog over to see if maybe he could sniff him out. The dog could definitely smell something but couldn’t locate the now dead squirrel. On Thursday the smell was definitely getting worse. I didn’t have much time to look any further on Thursday but as there was a chance of rain that night, I thought I better close the windows. Going into the closet the smell was almost overwhelming but as I had opened a small window in there, I thought I better get it shut. Had to climb a step ladder to get to it and the closer I got to the window the worse the smell was. I had cleared a lot of boxes off most the shelves but there were two boxes left on the very top shelf – first one was closed up so I went to pull down the second and as I was coming down the ladder I knew he had to be in the box as it was open on top and the smell was definitely stronger. Sure enough I looked in the box and saw his tail. I let out a yell and proceeded to head up the stairs to get rid of him. Met Allison and Jim at the top of the stairs. Jim took the box and proceeded to throw him in the dumpster as there were other items that the squirrel had buried himself in.

It was quite a week and a half. We are still not sure where the bird and squirrel got in. Matt Cone stopped the middle of the week and looked around to see if there was a spot where they could be getting in but couldn’t find anything.

Not sure what this week will bring but hope it’s a lot quieter around there. Sorry this is so long but this story was just too funny not to share.

Have a great week!!

Jody