Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 88290 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88290 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
“When you get it in the tree,” Jake was explaining to Kola, “the hole has to face either east or south so the wind stays out.”
Kola shot him a look.
“Fine. You knew that. But still.”
Of course once the box was up, and Jake checked twice that—like the others scattered throughout the small forest in our backyard—it was structurally sound and would never fall unless the tree was cut down…then the squirrels needed to be caught.
Fortunately, this was where Sam’s fishing net came in handy. I had to take video. Could I have helped? Probably. Would it have made any part of the squirrel corralling of 2023 go any faster if I had, in fact, offered my assistance? I have to say no. As a rule, any kind of wild animal wrangling is not in my wheelhouse. Plus, I laughed myself hoarse. I was useless because I couldn’t even breathe.
Sam was cursing. Kola was wearing my red silicone oven mitts and carrying one of the babies, explaining to the others that he was friendly. Harper and Jake caught Dobby with Sam’s net, which was not helpful, and Hannah, who really was clever, went upstairs and got Chilly.
He moved like lightning. I had no idea, at his advanced age, that he could scramble like that, but he caught the remaining two babies without hurting either and then needed a nap, which left us to catch mama.
Finally, Sam took charge of the fishing net and got her out of the tree. It was then time for Kola and Jake to carry them up the oak in our backyard and put all four into their new house. Kola put one of the Christmas decorations on top of it, a large sisal squirrel in red plaid so the squirrels would know where their new home was and any owls or birds of prey would keep away. Harper had sent up a tiny Wi-Fi spy camera with them and put it in the corner so we could keep an eye on the squirrels for just a bit until they got situated.
Once we were squirrel-free in the house, I said cooking was out of the question, and we decided to get takeout. The consensus was for Chinese food, and I was in heaven when they got back and we all sat down.
“So, Dad, do you love the tree now?” Kola asked his father.
“I do,” Sam assured him. “I’m not sure we have enough ornaments, though, and we’re gonna need a crane to put the lights on.”
We actually only needed two ladders, so it wasn’t bad. That was after all thirty-five boxes of Christmas ornaments and décor were brought down from the attic. A lot had been collected over the years, plus we'd also inherited more than a few pieces.
Hannah and Harper were in the attic walking around, Jake was on the ladder leading up talking to them and passing down boxes. Kola was on the ground stacking, and Sam and I were going up and down the stairs from the second floor to the first.
“Why do we get stuck doing the running every year?” he grumbled at me as he passed me on the stairs.
“Because you don’t fit in the attic any further than where the AC unit is, and I can never find anything up there,” I answered when I was going back up and he was coming down.
“At least the attic’s not creepy,” Sam stated, like this was important the next time we went by each other, me carrying lanterns, him with large Rubbermaid containers stacked three high. I paused to watch him because I liked seeing the muscles in his biceps bunch. “When I was little, I hated going into my grandmother’s attic. It was scary as hell.”
“Yeah, but wasn’t that more like a fourth floor or something?” I asked, waiting for him on the landing as he dropped off a different load in the living room. “My understanding is that it was a huge space sectioned off with clothes hanging on racks, big pieces of furniture, crates and chests, and even a piano."
“That’s true,” he agreed, following me back up the stairs, giving my ass a pat that I appreciated. “When you opened the door, you had to reach around the corner, in the dark, to turn on the light. And that only lit up, like, half the space. You had to go into the dark a second time to grab the chain hanging from the ceiling. I was sure there were zombies up there.”
“That’s horrible,” I said, turning around to smile at him as we reached the top.
“Oh, you have no idea,” he said, shivering.
“Jen said the issue was that there were so many things, like armoires and antique screens that you couldn’t see around where things could be lurking,” I teased him. “Like clown dolls.”