The visitor…my daughter feeds her squirrel friends…three pictures.
Posts tagged ‘Squirrels’
Sheep in the yard…
sheep in the yard
hard for a city kid
to imagine
there were no
wooly
ewes
or
lambs
grazing
when I looked
out of my window
not in
Chicago
no fuzzy friends
baaaaaaing
behind the
apartment buildings
or bungalows
not a single sheep
in any of the
alleys
or
standing on the
street
just squirrels
sitting on our laps
begging for
whatever we had
to eat
so squirrels
are the
ones
we loved
we would have loved
sheep too
if we had
had any
but all we ever had
were
squirrels
Squirrels and other stuff…
After four days of constant work…the squirrels are no longer living in my attic/walls. The crew toileded from morning until night and did a great job. Having new insulation put in means I have to clean every square inch of my entire house. I’ve been cleaning like crazy and hope to finish tomorrow or Monday. They were very careful but dust is dust.
Deb is getting ready to move in a couple of days, so I spent Friday with her and will help her move in.
I hate insurance companies more than ever. I’m leaving All State, that’s for sure and I’ve been talking to different agents and let me tell you…we are being scammed to the max. Here’s what’s going on. It seems that insurance companies don’t want to insure us for THINGS THAT CAN ACTUALLY HAPPEN TO OUR HOUSES. They only want to insure us for things that probably won’t EVER occur and that way THEY CAN JUST TAKE OUR MONEY AND NEVER HAVE TO PAY ON A CLAIM. I can’t believe the things people are telling me.
“Well, no one really insures for storm damage or weather or vermin,” said the agent.
I said, “So basically you aren’t insuring us for the things that can happen to us. You just want us to give you money, right? Money for nothing in return.”
“Well, we just don’t insure for those things, not since Katrina and all the storms. It was so expensive, so no one covers for weather damage, or, this or that, or whatever.”
“But ISN’T THAT WHAT INSURANCE IN FOR? Isn’t it for things that can actually HAPPEN to us?”
“Not really.”
One agent told me that insurance isn’t what it used to be and no one insures for the stuff that happens to us all the time. It costs too much to cover things that ACTUALLY HAPPEN, so they only insure for things that might NEVER happen. They can use a pint system so that your deductible is so high that they will never ever in a million years, have to pay any of us a single cent. How is this not a con that should be putting people into jail? This is the biggest SCAM EVER. I don’t get it. I’m finding out a lot about insurance and it’s all terrible for all US. We pay them for pretty much nothing at all. Oh, and if your roof is 15 years or older they won’t cover any damage for that either. This is ALL companies, not just ALL STATE, which I detest with a passion. I couldn’t find out what they do insure, just what they don’t, which is pretty much EVERYTHING.
The clocks spring ahead tonight, so it will stay light longer. Why we can’t just leave everything alone and never change the clocks in the fall is anyone’s guess. I always want it to be light longer, don’t you? But here we are, at the mercy of the time police, springing forward or falling back because time, is something we can play with, whenver we like.
Okay, so…Squirrels and insurance companies
Let me begin by saying that I LOVE INSURANCE COMPANIES that cover health care and car accidents. Love them. They were amazing when our son died. I couldn’t have asked for more…people were kind and lovely. I love them.
Having said that, there are other parts of insurance coverage that leave me cold. I’ve always thought that some insurance was the greatest con ever. I always believed that we should be able to sue some of them under the Rico Act. The mob might be made up of bad guys but at least you know they’re going to rip you off from the very beginning. If you pay the mob for protection, you usually get protection, even if you’re paying just to protect yourself from them. Not so from some insurance companies.
Squirrels have just moved in and are currently living in my attic/walls. They came in because there was ice damage and the gutters and wood pulled away from the roof, or something like that. Anyway, the squirrels moved in. I called my insurance company, since it’s is going to cost me $5,000 to get the side of my house fixed, get the squirrels evicted, the insulation replaced, everything sterilized, the wood and gutters replaced. Can’t have squirrels living in my house.
My insurance person told me that insurance companies do not insure for vermin damage. I said how about ice damage? Yes they cover for that but then I couldn’t have a crew come and fix the damage because I would have to first submit a claim and then wait for an insurance inspector to come out and look at things. And besides, with my deductible it wouldn’t be worth it.
She asked me how long the wood had been wet. I said I had no idea since I don’t walk on my roof to check those things and she said…Oh, the damage is on the roof? I asked her where she thought the attic was, if not up by the roof and she didn’t say anything. So I told her about the Rico Act and how insurance was a great con and she agreed that I had never had a claim and that it was all too bad but could I keep sending them my money anyway because well, you know, that’s what you do when you’re in a con. You pay for nothing. She said I was covered if my house burned down, they would put me up for awhile. I said I had squirrels not open flames and she said she was sorry. She said to read my policy about vermin. I asked if she could read the old police or even the new one I just got in the mail and she laughed, because no one can read them.
I am currently looking for a new insurance company. No one covers vermin damage but I don’t like the people I’ve used for a thousand years, sent their kids through college and the one time I ask for assistance…they don’t do that kind of thing. You pay the mob, they protect you. You pay the insurance company and they said. Oh, too bad, no protection here and if we did cover you we would raise your rates to get your money back into our pockets and then we would drop you because you placed a claim and thought we should pay you out of all the money you have paid to us for years and years and years.
I thought the crew was going to start to work on my house today but it doesn’t look like it. Emily will be terrified and the work could take 3 or 4 days. I just want the squirrels gone. The Rico Act needs to be broadened to include insurance companies. Really, it’s only fair. What a great set up they have. Best con EVER.
Again, I am all for health insurance and car insurance. We have to have them. They are wonderful and absolutely necessary. Nothing but applause for them. But this other stuff really drives me up a wall.
So…squirrels…
They have moved in, between my walls, this winter. Nice and cozy and I hear them running around, skritching (this is a real word to me…so) on the wall of my closet and above me, on the ceiling.
I called someone. Said there are squirrels in my walls. He came over and looked at me kindly and said you probably have mice. I said I do not have mice, I have squirrels. I know the difference between them having had mice and rats as pets for my entire life. He smiled again and pulled a live trap, as big as his palm, out of his pocket and said, “Well, let’s just start with this. I told him was wrong and he just kept smiling at me.
He sent an inspector out who said the EXACT same thing. He insanely tried to reproduce the sound mice make and I said, IT’S NOT MICE, IT’S SQUIRRELS. I told him to check the mouse trap that the other guy had put down. Big surprise…it was empty. It was empty, because I DON’T HAVE MICE. He smiled and did a perimeter check, then came back inside and said, “You have squirrels.” He didn’t apologize, he didn’t do anything, he just set up a group to EXCLUDE the squirrels from my house.
I said, you can’t hurt them. He said the squirrels actually moved part of my gutter and made an entrance. They are going to put a one-way door, in that spot. The squirrels can get out, but they can’t get back in. There about 6 others entry points, just a lot smaller. So, it’s costing a fortune, but no squirrels will be harmed and they won’t be sleeping in the insulation any more.
I told them they were squirrels.
Snack time.
I was outside, watering the plants, and the squirrels didn’t even made a made dash for the fence. They just glanced at me and kept eating.
Rethinking Life 
Written
on June 10, 2014