It was the second day of over 90 degree weather and our newly planted flowers (thank you Janet Wahlberg) were in need of a drink. “This should be easy,” I thought, “we have a spigot, we have a hose and we have water.”
It quickly turned into a “I Love Lucy” episode. The spigot needed a handle to turn it on, which didn’t work. Using a screwdriver, or 2 or 4, to open it didn’t work. I was back and forth half a dozen times into the mansion to find the right screwdriver – and wait – we should have a watering can. Nope, not to be seen in the maintenance closet. But the big surprise was the woodchuck in the window well next to the spigot. As an aside, there is a functioning spigot with a handle farther away from the flowers, but the hose is too short which is why I went to the closer spigot. If I hadn’t tried to use the closest spigot I wouldn’t have found the woodchuck.
In the past, we have put a long board down the 4 ft-deep window well that the trapped critters would use to climb out. So, I called our A #1 volunteer, Rick Roll, to bring me a long board from our carpentry supply at the Hall House building. My mistake was I didn’t say how long. He dutifully came over from the Hall House building with a 3-ft. board.
The poor guy, Rick I mean, met with a very frustrated executive director who just wanted to water the flowers. He listened, because that’s all he could do, waited, and then said, “I’ll take care of it.” He did. He brought over a sprinkler and a long hose and watered not only the flowers, but also the Blue Star memorial garden.
We still had a trapped (and very thirsty) woodchuck. I made an executive decision. I called our partner, the City Parks Department. A couple of Parks Department workers came over and put an 8-ft board in the window well. The woodchuck retreated away from the board. “Give it some time, we’ll be back in an hour,” they said. They had to go finish another job. Meanwhile, I was quite warm, but I had to meet with a board member who was donating to the Fenton and we were going to take a photograph for a press release (yay!). When that was done, I had to run over to the Hall House to help with a project, all in the 90-degree heat. When I returned, the Parks Department crew was back. They had lassoed the woodchuck and lifted him out of the window well when he promptly took off with the rope around his belly. The chase began. They caught him near the front of the mansion, and after dancing around the snapping and growling critter, managed to get the rope off him. Where did he go then? He ran across the lawn and jumped into a ventilation hole under the front porch! We all had to give the win to the woodchuck at that point. He had found a cool place to hide. We will meet again someday. He better not eat the flowers!
