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7 | The IFP -H alton H ills | T hursday,January 24,2019 theifp.ca The interior of the Acton Baptist Church at Mill and Elgin Streets was photographed in January 1965. It is now the location of Acton Optical. The Esquesing Historical Society has this photograph in their Archives. Don Ryder/photo THE WAY WE WERE Last June, I wrote about an annoying problem around the house, how red squirrels were gaining ac- cess to the attic of the ga- rage. I purchased a live trap and managed to catch two of them. But after that, the bait in the trap kept disappearing, but I never caught another red squirrel. Red squirrels are the worst members of the squirrel family. Black and grey squirrels don't come near the house. They stay out in the yard and store the walnuts they collect in the old trees around yard. But in spite of the fact the grey and black squir- rels are bigger, they will scurry away at the sight of a red squirrel, which is much smaller. Last summer we did some restoration work to the garage, pouring a new concrete floor, and I lined the walls inside the garage, to eliminate rodent access. It immediately stopped the raccoons, who would tip over the garbage cans and tear apart the garbage bags. But having a rodent- proof garage was short- lived. True to form, the red squirrels found some tiny holes somewhere in the walls- and they were back, chewing on wood, tearing the stuffing out of lawn fur- niture, and generally being the destructive little crea- tures that they are. I tried the trap again, but no luck. I guess they'd figured out that technolo- gy. So it being too cold to crawl around the perime- ter of the garage to locate any more holes in the walls- I decided to deal with them in the spring, and watch them scurry out of the garage every time we activated the garage door opener. A couple of weeks ago, The Sidekick and I were in the garage, and we noticed a scratching noise in the soffit above the doors. I looked up and saw one little 'hand' of a red squir- rel, trying to pull the siding out to escape that way, rath- er than back through the garage. I slapped the soffit with a broom, and the squirrel decided to bail out, back through the garage. At that moment, I real- ized what was happening. As that red squirrel was trying to beat a hasty re- treat, another creature was hot on his heels, his teeth sunk into the back leg of the red squirrel, who was squealing his head off. It was a weasel. And it seems he'd taken up residence in the garage. Now for those who are not familiar with weasels, they are one of the most deadly rodents for their size. They are fast, very slim, and can go through the smallest holes in the wall. They are also expert killers. I think of them as little assassins. And one more thing - they are carnivores. Meat is their staple diet. The red squirrel finally broke loose and high-tailed it to safety, as the weasel ca- sually looked back in our direction. He made his way to some place under the wall, not the least bit intim- idated by us. I thought back to when we had chickens. One night, we lost 24 hens to a weasel in the hen house. Every hen had its throat torn open- the signature of the weasel. I set the live trap again, hoping this weasel might be naïve enough to get caught- but I wasn't holding my breath. A couple days later, I did find some evidence behind the garage. It was the body of a red squirrel, it's neck torn open, and partly eaten. I suddenly realized why the red squirrels are no lon- ger invading the garage. In their place is the wea- sel, who doesn't tear apart lawn furniture, or chew on things. He simply kills red squirrels foolish enough to enter his domain. So I might be harbour- ing an assassin. But one thing's certain. I'm not worried about red squirrels in the garage anymore. Ted Brown is a free- lance journalist working for the IFC. You can con- tact him at tedbit@hot- mail.com I MIGHT BE HARBOURING AN ASSASSIN IN THE GARAGE OPINION THIS WEASEL WAS FAST, SLIM AND CARNIVOROUS, WRITES BROWN TED BROWN Column • Truck Accessories • Upholstery • Heavy Equipment Glass •Window Tinting 354 Guelph Street, Georgetown 905-873-1655 Wehandleall insurance work. We handle all insurance work. Furnace Air Conditioning Gaslines Boilers Water Heaters Radiant Heating 905-877-3100 proud local dealer of Canadian made products .caTo book this space call 905-873-0301 To book this space YOUR AD HERE!