Vermont Goodbyes, Coming Home!

March 6th, 2009 Posted in Story, Training

After commuting to beautiful Vermont since September (5 months),  I officially drew my stint as “active” chairman of Vermont Teddy Bear to a close on March 5th and returned home to Marcy and Weston.  My time in Vermont has been memorable and I’ll cherish it always.  The wonderful people of Vermont Teddy Bear, the beautiful Sugarbush Cottage I rented on Shelburne Farms, the classic New England mountain and lake scenery - majestic and stunning - all of it made being away from home almost BEARable (yes, pun intended :-).  But I’m anxious to close this chapter and move back home.  Marcy, as always has been a supportive partner and friend.  She is my rock and has always endured my wanderlust ways around the globe.  Her ability to actually operate our family from stem to stern has been amazing - and thank goodness it was her doing it because I would have been a disaster!

Speaking of disasters…….my 5+ month stay at lovely Sugarbush Cottage, nestled in the woods of Shelburne Farms was without incident, despite close proximity to all sorts of wildlife (I consistently saw deer, coyotes, foxes, woodchucks, raccoons and sorted varieties of birds during my early morning runs).  That was until my second to last day.  Upon arriving home to the cottage after work on Wednesday, I stepped into the darkness of the room to feel crunching under my feet.  Next, I saw something move in the kitchen.  As I reached for the light switch whatever it was started to make a noise.  Lights on - and there I was face-to-face with a grey squirrel.  He was on the kitchen counter, waist high, staring straight up at me and I down at him.  He was frozen, with a piece of mini shreaded wheat hanging out of his mouth like a cigarette.  He had that look on his face of, “Uh, oh - this can’t be good!”

After what seemed like a long moment of time, he leaped over my head, hit the floor running and scurried up the steps to the bedroom.  “Great”, I thought, this is gong to be fun getting him back downstairs and out the front door.  So I decided to survey the damage before trying to round him up.  The kitchen had shredded wheat everywhere.  The floor, all the counters, the sink….then into the living room, the nook and even up the stairs.  It appeared he’d been there a while (I hadn’t been to the Cottage for four days) and was enjoying the free meal ALL over the place.  Of course gorging on cereal led to the inevitable need to “go” and go he did….on the counter, in the sink, on the floor, on the remote control to the TV, on the table on the steps…..he kept going and going - proving once again that cereal is an excellent source of roughage

So after cleaning up after the little freeloader I grabbed the broom and proceeded up the stairs.  I must have looked ridiculous wielding this straw weapon like some kind of NARC ready to make a drug bust.  I cautiously approached each closet, holding the broom straight up like you see in detective shows on TV right before they enter a doorway.  Whoosh!  I’d swing into the void hoping to flush the critter out.  Nothing.  Again and again I repeated this action to no avail.  So I concluded he must be hiding under the bed.  Ugh!  All my childhood memories of what dreaded evil learked beneath my bed came flushing to my mind.  I got down on my hands and knees, slowly lifted the mattress skirt and swept the broom swiftly across the floor.  Nothing.  OK, so the little guy had either found a way to sneak back downstairs (and hopefully out the front door which I’d propped open) or had a portal to the great outdoors.  I decide he had crawled up into a small  space in the closet where a PVC stovepipe ran from the basement to the roof, through the closet.  There was just enough space between the pipe and the plasterboard that I decided this must be where he got in - and out.  I stuffed a towel tightly into the space and was satisfied that this little “incident” was over.   I should have known better after spending 10 years trying to outsmart the squirrels in our Weston backyard in preventing them from getting into the bird feeder.  The running tally was Squirrel 23, Crowleys zippo.  They were the most cleaver, determined and acrobatic creatures I had ever seem.

So off to work the next morning I went and upon my return - my last night to be spent in Vermont - I was greeted with the exact same “crunch, crunch” sound under feet and a trashed kitchen.  This time not only was there food scattered everywhere (he went for the Kashi cereal so I knew that stuff would get him going….), but he had cut himself and tracked blood over every conceivable surface in the Cottage.  Even the toilet seat from crying out loud!  But there was no sign of my little grey buddy.  He had already wised up and upon hearing the car, taken to his hiding place.

Marshall Webb, my loyal and trusty landlord brought over a “have-a-heart” trap and we set it on the kitchen counter with a juicy slug of peanut butter (Jiffy I believe!).  We figured squirrley was still in the house and wouldn’t be able to resist the tempting odor of yummy peanut butter.  Well, we were wrong again.

I awoke the next morning and no action in the trap.  so I went for a 90 minute run - one last time around the Farms campus - 5 degrees and a perfect blue sky - and upon returning, VICTORY!  There the little devil was, freaking out inside the trap.  We exchanged stares, then I carried him over to Marshall for deportation.

So John Gilbert, our new CEO at Vermont Teddy Bear who will move into the Cottage next week, has a squirrel free Cottage…..for now

Below are some parting videos of my most northern training hood - Shelburne Farms.  Enjoy.

video management, video solution, video streaming