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dang squirrel!

Old 01-30-08 | 11:08 AM
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dang squirrel!

A couple months ago a mysterious little hole appeared in the middle of the towpath of the Delaware and Raritan Canal, where I ride twice every day.

I go by there just before it gets light in the morning, and just after it gets dark; and I usually see the hole just in time to avoid it. It's not a big hole, just a few inches deep, but one time I didn't see it and found that it was pretty unpleasant to hit it with my 16" wheels. So I stopped and filled it in. Next day, the hole was back! I filled it in again. Next day, the hole was back, and a little deeper. I filled it in again. This kept happening. Part of the problem was that I only saw the hole by the light of my generator light, which goes dark when I stop.

Finally, a couple weeks ago, I examined the hole by the light of my cell phone, and saw distinctive little scratching marks that suggested it was being dug by a squirrel. I guess the little varmint smelled the freshly moved soil, figured somebody's buried a snack, and dug it up. So I filled it again, and peed on it this time. And (knock on wood) that seems to have taken care of the problem. So now I've filled in another hole the same way, and with good results so far.

Stupid squirrel.
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Old 01-30-08 | 11:30 AM
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A little pee will fix a lot of things!
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Old 01-30-08 | 11:32 AM
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Good info. A little biological warfare goes a long way!
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Old 01-30-08 | 12:17 PM
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I find this thread absolutely hilarious. For whatever reason, the peeing caught me completely off guard and I'm giggling uncontrollably now. Thanks.
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Old 01-30-08 | 12:21 PM
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You have now claimed the squirels nut storage facility number 12 with your pee. enjoy
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Old 01-30-08 | 12:42 PM
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Old 01-30-08 | 12:54 PM
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Squirrels chewed right through the side of my house. I patched the hole and the damn things would chew a new hole over night right next to the patch. I spent months trapping and relocating squirrels before the problem subsided. Now you tell me all I had to do was pee all over the side of my house?
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Old 01-30-08 | 12:59 PM
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Originally Posted by bfromcolo
Squirrels chewed right through the side of my house. I patched the hole and the damn things would chew a new hole over night right next to the patch. I spent months trapping and relocating squirrels before the problem subsided. Now you tell me all I had to do was pee all over the side of my house?
You know, by this logic, why don't you just pee on your neighbor's house and let somebody else deal with your squirrel woes
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Old 01-30-08 | 01:23 PM
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Where do you access the towpath? When I tried to enter it from the Route 1 Lawrenceville access point, the access path was overgrown.
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Old 01-30-08 | 01:26 PM
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Originally Posted by bfromcolo
Squirrels chewed right through the side of my house. I patched the hole and the damn things would chew a new hole over night right next to the patch. I spent months trapping and relocating squirrels before the problem subsided. Now you tell me all I had to do was pee all over the side of my house?
After the first time I think I'd staple some thin wires up and hook it to a high voltage supply. If you're feeling humane, wire it as a touch switch and hook up a bottle of ammonia water and a cheap windshield washer pump.
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Old 01-30-08 | 01:30 PM
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Pee....that's why there's no squirrels in my toilet. I see....
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Old 01-30-08 | 01:39 PM
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Originally Posted by neilfein
Where do you access the towpath? When I tried to enter it from the Route 1 Lawrenceville access point, the access path was overgrown.
How long ago was that? They built a nice bike bridge over Rt 1 a few years back, but this makes it impossible to get onto the towpath from Rt 1. They don't want anyone to stop on Rt. 1. Other than that, though, you can get to the canal from any of the cross streets-- Alexander Rd in P'ton has a nice parking lot, and there's another one on Quaker road, that's probably also P'ton. The NICEST way to get to the canal is to go to Brearley House off Meadow road off Princeton Pike.

I ride down Franklin Corner Road, which becomes Baker's Basin where it crosses Rt 1; then I take the canal down to Carnegie Ave. It's only a half mile, but it's the best part of my ride.
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Old 01-30-08 | 01:51 PM
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Originally Posted by mjw16
Pee....that's why there's no squirrels in my toilet. I see....
I cannot argue with your logic.
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