“Animal trapped ( hopefully) in Alan’s office, please send someone.”

I’m not sure that many of you working in offices have ever received an email like this on a Friday morning. Or any morning, for that matter. But around our offices this happens from time to time. I’ve been here for more than six years now and had the pleasure of watching squirrels, jack rabbits, birds of all feathers, skunks and even a deer one winter morning from my window.

Animal control is a regular visitor in Ring House 2, catching squirrels – regular and flying – in the attic and the basement of this old house. This one that they captured made its home in a box full of old manuscripts. Though lately it seems that ‘squirrel proofing’ has worked or perhaps it hasn’t been cold enough yet for any creature to try to get inside.

Last fall my office was the refuge from the cold for more than 60 bees and some years ago Mary Lou found dead wasps arranged in a circle, like there has been some kind of ritual – Sharon, our office administrator at the time, suggested that the spirits of the house held some kind of a cleansing ceremony.

I won’t keep you in suspense anymore: the creature in Alan’s office was a tiny mouse with big black eyes and Alan caught it in his blue box. We set it free and it happily hopped back towards the house. See our Facebook page for the short video of its release back to the ‘wild’…, and another blogĀ reporting of wildlife from 2015.

Do you see more creatures in our future? How about an aquarium with a starfish and a sea urchin?