Some years ago, I lived in an apartment on the third floor that had a small wooden balcony. Late in Autumn, before we put the plastic weatherproofing sheet over the patio door, we put up lights on the balcony, sort of twisted around the railing. I thought it was kinda pretty, even though I’m not a big Christmas decorations type person.
Some time after Christmas, we noticed that the lights no longer came on when we flipped the switch (it was the balcony/porch light), but we couldn’t get out to check because there was no way we were taking down the plastic film until spring (that stuff is a major pain to put up, especially over something big like a patio door).
Spring came and we took down the plastic and went outside and the lights were apparently just GONE. There was a little “tail” of the cord hanging from the plug, which was still in the light socket, but the string of lights was nowhere to be seen. We honestly couldn’t figure out how anyone would get to the third floor to take them, but people have been known to do weird things…
Later in the spring, we went out to clean off the patio so we could use it, and there in the corner, tucked under some plastic chairs, was an abandoned nest, probably of a raccoon or a squirrel, and guess what was wound up in the nesting material? None other than our string of Christmas lights! It’s a wonder the animal didn’t electrocute itself chewing through the wire, and I’m really surprised we didn’t hear the thing as it unwound the light strand, but we lived near a fairly busy street and I guess we just weren’t paying attention (and the plastic on the window cut down a lot of outdoor noise).
There’s no moral to this story, by the way. I just think it’s kind of amusing.
