Frakking aminals!

I've lived in this house for about 6.5 years or so. About a year after we moved in, I put up 2 laundry lines outside that ran from the house to a big tree in the middle of the backyard, and they operated on a pulley so I could move the laundry back and forth. It was a nice option for hot days or when doing things like sheets.

About a year later, my step-son and his buddies tied a rope around a lower branch of the same tree and then tied a rubber doggie tug toy to one end and they got the big puppy to pull on the toy and it would cause him to nearly swing on the rope. It was fun!

About a month or so ago, I noticed that one of the laundry lines was broken and halfway up the tree. It was wrapped around it. Apparently, some industrious little squirrel decided that it needed my rope more than I did. So, I unwound it from the tree and tied it back together. About a week or so later, I was in the bathroom when I heard the pulley squeaking. I looked out, and I could see the other rope was being tugged. I went outside and I could see this little black squirrel trying to pull the rope up the tree, but it was snagged on the bark. I grabbed part of the rope that was still on the laundry line and tugged it. The squirrel got yanked, and looked at the rope quizzically, and then saw me and scooted up the tree. So, I tied this line together, and now I had 2 broken laundry lines.

About 2 weeks later, I came home and found both ropes broken, one lying on the ground, and one wrapped around the tree. The dog tug toy was lying on the ground, and the rope was being dragged up the tree by that frakking little black squirrel. I grabbed the rope and pulled it away from the squirrel, who was NOT happy with me. I took all of the ropes and wound them up. I noticed that in addition to the long sections of rope that survived, I now also had about 5 little sections of rope, no smaller than 6 inches but no bigger than a foot. So, I neatly looped those little sections together, and left them in 5 little piles next to the tree. A few days later, I noticed that 3 of the 5 sections of rope were gone, and a few days after that, the other 2 were gone as well.

The dog tug rope and one of the laundry lines were fiber rope and they were in terrible shape so I tossed them. The other laundry line rope was artificial and was in decent shape, so it sits, wound up, in my kitchen closet where I keep my mosquito lanterns, and other knick knacks for outside grilling or the fire pit.

Fast forward to now which is over a month since the little bits of rope were taken. I have a tree in my back yard that I planted 2 years ago. It's an apple tree that is 4 types of apples in one tree. This year, I finally had fruit. I had 1 apple that looked like green Granny Smith, and 3 yellow/red apples that looked like Galas. I was trying to figure out when I should pick them. I wanted them to reach full size, but I didn't want them to fall off on their own.

Well, so much for that. I came home tonight and I noticed that I didn't see the yellow/red apples that had been hanging like testicles from the lower branch of the tree. Sure enough, I walked back there and all three Galas were gone. I found the remnants of 2 of them near the HUGE tree in the back corner of the yard. The green apple is much higher, and perhaps whatever aminal (spelling on purpose) took the other 3 won't be able to get this one. Or maybe I should just go out and pick it.

Frakking squirrels. Frakking aminals. Grumble grumble grumble. Frak frak frak.