Dead Chipmunk in the Pool....Ahhhhh!

The excitement just never seems to stop around here! All week long, I've been looking forward to Friday night. I was planning to sit under the Tiki Hut by the pool, listen to music, watch my son play in the pool with some friends, and enjoy Hayley Grace and her friend Lindsay as they sang and pretended to be Hannah Montana. Listen to my oldest son tell me his weekend plans. And enjoy the fact that Jeff and Dylan were on an outing together at the Charlotte Knights baseball game It was just going to be good Friday night fun. Until.....


While the pizzas were cooking, Hayley Grace and Lindsay ran in the house and proclaimed, "There's a rat in the pool, can we still go swimming?" Now keep in mind, they had totally straight faces and were serious. I thought for certain they were joking. They promised they weren't. So I walked outside. Sure enough there WAS a rodent in the pool. A little smaller than a rat, but a relative I'm sure. Floating atop the water was a stiff little chipmunk. I said, "Oh that's not a rat, it's a chipmunk." "Mommy, is it Chip or Dale?", asked Hayley Grace. "No, it's not." (I knew she would start crying if I said yes.) "Well, can we still go swimming?" "No! That's gross! We have to shock the pool." "We don't care." "Well, I care, you can't swim."

This went back and forth for about 10 minutes. All the while I'm thinking, How am I going to get this dead thing out of the pool. Jeff is gone with Dylan, and I don't want to scoop it out.....hmmmm. About that time, Hayden, my tough 12 year old came out to see what was going on. An idea popped into my head......"Hayden, I need you to be the man of the house since Dad isn't here. Ok?" "Ok" he said. He had no idea what was to happen next.


Poor guy, he tried to get that thang out of the pool. Instead it just got trapped in the filter. That made it even harder to get out. I ended up having to get a small collendar out of my kitchen to scoop it out. As Hayden scooped, us girls ran away screaming. He moved it from the colendar to the pool net. Then proceeded to chase us with the pool net. I was screaming and threatening his life all at the same time. Check out these photos:

Hayley Grace tries to push the dirty little rat from the filter back into the pool. The pole you see has a net on the end trying to capture it on the other end. They could not get it out of the filter though.




Hayden and Lindsay try to move it. Still no luck.

Finally, brave Hayden scoops it out with our kitchen collendar. (btw, this collendar is now history. I will never use it again to drain broccoli...or anything else!)










Lindsay gets crazy while Hayden moves the little dead fella from the collendar to the pool net.








Look closely. Do you see the thang? There he is. I know it's a he. A she would not have jumped in the pool unable to get out!








I only wish you could see the unseen in this photo. Hayden is chasing the girls with the dead rodent in the net. You have never heard such sharp shrills in your life.








More screams!
















This is Hayden. I actually gave him permission to dump our dead friend on the golf course behind our house. (Please don't tell on us!) So, here he is doing just that. I wonder what the Saturday golfers will think of the new addition to the 11th Fairway?


Here he is. My hero! Hayden, you rock! Thank you for getting Chip (or Dale)...that dead thang out of our pool. We are shocking it now and thanks to you, we will be able to swim tomorrow. You are too cool for school.











There you have it. Our exciting Friday. Stay tuned. I'm sure there will be more to come.
Have a great weekend friends. Rodent free I hope.

Love,

Melissa