Bird Holes?

I resigned my position as a journeyman lineman with a major utility in 1992 to go to work for Haverfield. I was a lineman on a high line maintenance crew. My last task on this particular job was to patch two bird holes in the top of a 95' C wood H on a 115KV line. I climbed to the position of the holes above the spar arm and locked off. As I began to measure the hole I noticed that there was something soft in it, and it was moving around. I poked and prodded with my ruler that I was using to get the dimensions of the hole, but it would not come out. I got my hammer and beat the pole, but still it would not relent. At the end of my rope I lit a cigarette, took a couple of drags and tossed it in the hole.

The pole was extremely dry and began to smoke. Fearing that it was on fire, I called for a fire extinguisher. After testing it on the ground it was discovered that our extinguisher was exhausted. My helper sent me the water keg! Since that was all I had I thought what the heck and placed the spout close to the hole. After depressing the button I found out quickly how flying squirrels totally dislike water being doused on them. One jumped onto my shoulder and took off. The other went down my leg and glided to safety. All I can say is that it is a good thing that I was safetyed off.