Gainesville Life

Gainesville homeowner finds squirrel in toilet

Several weeks ago, while I was in holiday elf mode delivering gifts to my customers, I was regaled with the freakiest homeowner tale I have heard in quite a while.

Seems that my buddy (let's just call her OMG) got the surprise of her life coming home from work one day.  She explained that they keep all of the toilet lids closed in the house as a babyproofing measure. 

Returning home from work, she went to use the bathroom, lifted up the lid, and saw some lifeless furry thing inside the bowl.

She slammed down the lid, called her husband, and announced there was a dead squirrel in their toilet.

He didn't believe her until he got home to fish the corpse out of the bowl.

How did a squirrel get in their toilet??

Well, apparently, this is not an isolated incident.

The best way to keep squirrels (and frogs, apparently) out of your toilet?  Put a screen cover on your roof vent.

Oh. And Make Sure You Look Down First.

Another great thing about living in Gainesville!

Located smack dab in the middle of North Florida, Gainesville is close to all kinds of nature-related activities.  My favorite one, by FAR, is kayaking.  Athletically challenged to the point of not even being able to throw a Frisbee, I have always made it my mission to avoid all sports-related activities that did not involve sitting down. Especially after the U.S. Olympic Committee delivered a stinging defeat to sitters everywhere when they declined to make lounging an olympic event.

Then we moved to Gainesville, Florida, and I discovered kayaking.

Sure, I'd been once or twice before we moved here.....but living in Gainesville, within striking distance of dozens of lakes and rivers, and being blessed with a subtropical climate, lush vegetation, and TONS of wildlife, the recliner grew less and less appealing in favor of a couple of hours on the water in a boat I couldn't capsize if I tried.

Today's trip?  A two-hour paddle down the Ichetucknee River, with Lars Andersen of Adventure Outpost in High Springs as our guide. A tributary of the Santa Fe River, the Ichetucknee is fed by 9 springs which produce an outflow in excess of 233 million gallons a day.

All types of wildlife call the Ichetucknee Springs area home, including the Silt Snail which lives in a little fenced-off area near Coffee Spring and is found nowhere else on earth.

Ancient mastodon teeth and bones of other extinct animals have been found in and around the Ichetucknee River.

Although I didn't score any prehistoric dental fossils on my trip, I did see slider turtles as big as plates and mullet fish which jump out of the water....nobody knows why.....some speculate it's because of gas...but the mullet's not saying.

Anyway.

If you've never tried kayaking, I urge you to give it a go.  If someone who can't even throw a Frisbee can navigate down a river, you can too.

4 comments • Coleen DeGroff - Haile Plantation Real Estate - Gainesville FL - • November 09 2009 10:42PM