Ants, Squirrels, Birds, and Chipmunks: Borders

Many suburban and exurban homes in Connecticut are situated in heavily wooded (literally forested) neighborhoods. Homeowners take great pleasure in having all the modern, in home, conveniences readily available while at the same time being surrounded by the natural beauty and enhanced privacy afforded by surrounding walls of trees. Natures own air conditioning shade is only one of the long term health benefits. Trees which eat CO2 and spit out oxygen serve to filter out greenhouse gases, reduce smog and pollution and help in regional water management by reducing incidents of flooding. Leaves retain raindrops and delay their reaching the ground and simultaneously slurp up water from what would otherwise become super saturated soil. The more trees on your property the less grass there is to mow and the fewer chemicals leaching into the groundwater.

We chose to live in that kind of setting and like most human decisions, the desire to live surrounded by woods came with certain challenges. While, for my family, our house has been our home, for any critters (and there are multitudes) who live in the surrounding woods our house has been just one more funny looking tree that beckons with the promise of water, food and sanctuary. The exterior walls of our home serve as a kind of border keeping out what doesn't belong and keeping in what shouldn't be exposed; that is from my families perspective. The creatures of the forest see them quite differently. For those masters of exploration, walls are like any other vertical surface, an expansive interstate highway leading to exits full of possibilities in the form of openings or crevices that can be hollowed out to gain entry to the protected interior together with all that is contained there.

Who among us has not had periodic encounters with squirrels in the attic, birds in the garage or nested above fixtures, chipmunks scurrying between the walls, and ants marching in formation upside down along decorative ceiling beams. After thirty years of living with these intruders and successfully combating each, my thinking has undergone a metamorphosis. In order to remain in control of and secure my borders I must see things like they are seen by the critters. And that's why when people ask me where I live they are surprised at my response, "I live in a funny looking tree." To all us critters I am just stating the obvious.