Coffee Chat
Hello friends!
Happy 3rd week in 2023! Haha! The year is already going by so quickly!
I’ve taken some time off from writing my weekly Coffee Chat editions, for no good reason, but with the new year (let’s just pretend this is the 1st week), I’m going to reinstate it on this ol’ blog!
We’ve kicked the new year off with tons of fun and excitement…a visit from a flying squirrel and a trip to North Carolina.
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The Tale of the Visiting Flying Squirrel
Yes, you read that correctly. The kids were at school and my husband was getting ready to fly out of state for a business trip. I, on the other hand, was being so productive and putting away some of our Christmas decorations into the attic…until…
As I was walking down the hallway, I passed by the kid’s bathroom…yeah, the room that is the most beautiful in our house…and noticed that one of our dogs was in there. I thought the was super odd, so I slowed my walk and peeked in and saw one of our cats in there.
Automatically I knew that this meant we had a visitor. Never in the history of all that is normal and good would the dog nor the cat be in the kid’s bathroom. I quickly glanced about the room, and there, sitting on a plastic container housing old bath toys, sat a furry tail. I instantly closed the door, grabbed some of the Christmas decorations that were still needing to be taken upstairs, and blocked off the bottom of the doorway (over the past 137 years that this Victorian house has been standing, some questionable stuff has been done to some of the doors…and there is a big gap at the bottom of this door). I screamed to my hubby, who was already running late for his flight. Without evening responding to me, he ran out to the garage, grabbed a couple of nets (you always have to be prepared in an old house, haha!) and ran back upstairs and attempted to capture the creature.
He opened the door and out came our cat, flying. Literally flying. She leapt over all of the boxes I had stacked outside the doorway and made a beeline for downstairs to a safer hiding space. Scaring the holy beegeebies out of both of us!
My hubby and I both screamed and he quickly shut the door. After a brief cry of “I don’t have time for this, I’m going to miss my flight. Call an exterminator”…he was gone and I was left to deal with the new house guest all on my own. Just my luck. SERIOUSLY, why do all house related things go wrong when your spouse is gone?!? (maybe I’ll have to tell you all about the 4 foot snake we had at our North Carolina house next week…hahaha!) 🐍
In desperation, I called a local company, who we have hired before to spray our exterior, until I got a hold of them. The gentleman came out to our house within the hour and bravely closed himself in the kid’s bathroom. Less than five minutes later, he had safely captured our guest and had him packed up to be released in a different area…far…far…far…away from my house!
When he told me the creature was a flying squirrel, I didn’t believe him! I had no clue that Wisconsin had flying squirrels! I explained to him that my boys were going to be so mad when they found out we had a flying squirrel and I had it released instead of keeping him as a pet (hahaha, my kids LOOOOOVE animals!) I kindly asked him to try and take photos of the little guy when he went to release him. (click each animal to read more; 🐶 dogs, 🐱 hurricane rescue cats, 🐓 chickens, 🐎 horse…not mentioned are our rabbits, hahaha!)
Later that afternoon, I received this picture…I’m not sure if this thing is cute or devilish looking! hahaha…either way, I’m glad he’s out of my house!
I mean really, who the heck has a flying squirrel come into their house? I am just going to say that he wanted to come and admire the awesome work we’ve done in the kid’s bathroom! (which really, I neeeeeed to write an update for you guys about their bathroom! It’s so so pretty!)
Have you ever had an unwanted guest come visit you? Tell me in the comments which creature you have had!
North Carolina Mountains
A couple of days after the flying squirrel debacle, my hubby and I flew to North Carolina for a wonderful, but short, weekend back in our old town (and house), visiting old friends and neighbors and then up to the Appalachian mountains!
Oh it felt so so so good to go back. I genuinely love North Carolina and had so much fun laughing and spending time with friends and my husband.
Plus…there was SUN!!! This winter has been extra dreary here in our parts of Wisconsin, so it was so nice to see the sun!!
New on the blog…
I’d love for you to check out the latest recipes I’ve shared this week!
Mrs Fields Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Recipe
I hope you all have a wonderful week…and let me know if you want to hear about the snake story next week! HAHAHA!
![](https://gatheredinthekitchen.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/xo-Stephanie-Signature.jpg")
Stephanie—home cook, DIY addict, seasonal decor fanatic, and proud chicken wrangler living in a Victorian house that’s always a project. Whether I’m cooking with garden-fresh ingredients, herding mischievous chickens, or tackling another DIY, I’m here to share the fun (and chaos).
A couple of years ago, my cats kept staring at a Chinese bamboo print. I went over to look and there hanging off the top was a BAT! I got a bowl and a fly swatter, then covered the bat with the bowl. I slid the fly swatter underneath the bowl & carried everything outside. I lifted the bowl & ran back into the house! I went out the next day & there was no bat on the fly-swatter. I threw the bowl and the fly-swatter away. Figured out it must have flown in through the chimney.
Oh my Sherri!!! Ugh!! I totally feel you on this story! …we had a bat last year! hahahaha! Seriously!!! I can’t even make this stuff up! Hope we’re both bat free for a while! lol!
That squirrel story is crazy!! Why do things like that always happen when the guys aren’t around? It’s like the animals know you’ll be alone! Ha!! Let’s hear that snake story, please. I’ll be tuning in!!