We have a new neighbor...

This afternoon we went out for a walk and egg collection.  On the way back in, I happened to look up at our bluebird house, which is nailed to a pine tree beside the driveway.  The bottom of the house is sticking out almost an inch, and stuff is sticking out of it, which I thought was weird...so I grabbed a stick, figuring I'd go over and clean the thing out to be ready for spring.

I made my way through the brush to get to the tree, and while standing directly in front of the house, I used the stick to push the side even further out.  There was what looked like a blob of fur sticking out, and at first I thought it was moving.  Then I figured, no, the wind was blowing a piece of fur that the bird had used to make its nest.  I called Ginny over for a look.

Ginny took one look and said it was a squirrel, and it was alive!  What I thought was breathing was the thing panting in fear - I was standing less than two feet from it, poking with a stick!  Then we noticed the squirrel looking at us through the hole in front of the house.  Ginny said, "You'd better get out of there before it attacks you."  I used the stick to push the side of the house back where I found it and got outta there.  Man, that was close!  There's a LOT of rabies in this area....yikes.

If you look closely at this picture (taken w/ my Blackberry from further away), you can see the squirrel looking out from the bottom of the hole.