When the toddler grandkids came along and were staying with us, we told them that we had chipmunks in the attic because it sounded less scary than rats! Roly Poly died at the age of 19 a few years later. In the summer of 2015 Alleghany was overrun by Ferrell cats. That fall, I was able to work with Sammy’s Friends to trap, spay and neuter 39 cats and kittens! There were 15 kittens, and at that time I was working at the 16 to 1 Mine office. Mike Miller let me set up a kitten nursery in my office. The adult cats had their ears tipped and were released in Alleghany where they were being fed. The kittens were kept in my office and tamed with food, playing and petting. My co-worker Edda Snyder was a huge help. One little calico was fiercer than the rest. I read that if you have a wilder one, it is best to separate it from the other kittens for two reasons: it is a bad influence on the other kittens and if it only has a human to socialize with, it is more likely to tame down. For that reason, the fierce little calico was brought to my house where we locked her in the upstairs bedroom. The kittens at the mine office calmed down immediately and within a week the calico was letting me pet her. We had name themes going for the kittens and the Giants Baseball team was one theme with kittens named Posey, Pablito, Hunter, Duffy, Panda and Madison Bumgarner aka Maddy. Maddy is the Calico. Once Maddy was settled in, she had the run of the house. We opened the attic hoping that she would flush out the varmints. The first night she killed a baby animal that we thought must be a squirrel but we weren’t sure. She left it as a gift next to the bed. The following day we found a cute little face with whiskers, a tail and a tiny liver or kidney upstairs but that was all. This was repeated a few days later. We were pretty sure that the tails belonged to squirrels. The following week we had an exciting day when Maddy flushed a flying squirrel downstairs! It was almost as big as she was (she wasn’t full grown yet). The mystery of what had been living in our attic was finally solved. Before this turn of events, I didn’t know that flying squirrels live here. Because they are nocturnal they are rarely seen. They live in the Sierra Nevada Mountains at elevations of 3,000 to 8,100 feet. They can glide as far as 100 feet and use their tails as a rudder. Thanks to our little calico, we no longer have varmints in the attic. Clarification on last week’s information about water shrews. I stated that “they can walk on the water”. It is more of a scuttle. They scuttle across the water’s surface! About the author: As a kid in 1975, Rae Bell (aka Pauline) moved with her family to the Ruby Mine area located between Alleghany and Downieville. She and her husband have lived in Alleghany proper since 1992. If you have news or suggestions to share, please send an email to: raebell44@gmail.com, or mail to: PO Box 919, Alleghany, CA 95910What’s in the attic?
A Northern Flying Squirrel (Glaucomys sabrinus) in the author’s house. The dark wavy line on the side is the edge of its wing. It is sitting on a chia pet that is 7 ½ inches long.In 1996 when we moved into our current house it had been vacant for about five years. At night there was a ruckus in the attic with gnawing sounds, bumping and thumping. Upon inspection we found a mess of sticks and other debris and turds that we assumed to be rat turds. We set traps again and again to no avail. Our senior cat Roly Poly (long “o” sound) was not the least bit interested in hunting. This went on for several years, mostly during the winter months.