The Chipmunk at Last

After calling a company that cleans ducts, and describing my problem, and having them not return my calls after that, I decided this weekend we would go after the dead chipmunk, even if it meant cutting holes in the ductwork. Since J was home after travelling, I would have adult supervision, too. We started with the easy places to look--the homemade air intake duct by the furnace, and the furnace filter itself. Nothing in either of those places. I was sure it was under the studio floor, so J was willing to take some time and try to spot it from the vent, and he got a mirror out of his toiletry kit and a coathanger and started to poke around. We could tell from the smell he was close, and he took the vacuum cleaner and got it further down the duct than I was able to, and tada..that was the end of the chipmunk, though extracting him from the vacuum hose pipe was a chore (needle nose pliers worked) and then there was a lot of cleaning; of the duct, the pliers, the vacuum cleaner and J and his shirt, especially. But you can open the front door and think "Cats! Roses! Dawn detergent! Old plywood!" and not OMG SOMETHING HUGE AND DEAD IS IN THERE. And we didn't have to slice open the duct after all. A good day.