We bought our house in 1989 in Kirkland’s Bridle Tree neighborhood. Near Bridle Trails State Park, the development featured large stands of trees left everywhere.

A lady living in a house on our eastern border made it clear to us soon after we moved in that she hated trees — at the first chance she got had them all removed.

She also hated the squirrels, which we occasionally fed and considered cute. We learned from another neighbor that she secretly caught squirrels in a metal trap in order to drown them in a tub on her deck. She was spotted sneaking out to the large field to the south of Bridle Tree with a shovel and bucket to bury the bodies. One less varmint to ruin her bulbs, she reasoned. She recently moved to Arizona, granting victory to the squirrels.

However, she wasn’t the only neighbor I’ve heard complain about our bushy-tailed friends causing mischief. Bridle Tree residences are split into pro- and anti-squirrel camps. We try to avoid the subject at barbecues or when picking up the mail to keep the peace.

Funny, our family of squirrels never seem to do much damage. Maybe it is their way of repaying us for providing two nesting boxes for them in our trees. They add a kinetic element to the garden, entertainingly us with trapeze-like antics.

~Gary Gillespie, Kirkland