Well played, Asa. Well played, indeed! I admit he went to extremes to get what he wanted, but I can’t help but admire his ingenuity. I had forgotten what a literal dog Asa is, so I should have been more careful with the wording of the “no new friends in the house rule.” I do appreciate that he obeyed that rule. I’m even more amazed he figured out a loophole. Yet did Asa really need to break the garage door to help his new friends?

Asa’s latest attempt at making friends took a new twist. He became smitten with the chipmunks who have been darting around our yard preparing for the long cold days ahead. It didn’t take long for the chipmunks to convince Asa that he should help them find a warm place to stay this winter. But Asa didn’t want any harm to come to his newest friends, like the tragic ending his mice friends faced in the basement. Therefore he knew right away the house was off limits. But what about Dad’s car? Sadly, I never mentioned Dad’s car in the no new friends in the house rule.

Technically the garage is part of the house, so again Asa knew his chipmunk friends would not be allowed in there either. But if he could find a way to keep Dad’s car out in the driveway, his new little friends not only had a warm place to ride out the winter, they could go on adventures with us! But how to get Dad’s car out of the garage for a long period of time?

I still don’t know how Asa engineered this feat, but he made the entire garage door come crashing down! Thankfully, we were all safe inside when it happened. Somehow Asa managed to break the torsion spring on the garage! Thus making the garage door unusable. Problem is Asa didn’t think this through and Mom and Dad’s cars were trapped inside the garage not out. Using super human strength, engineering skills, not to mention a vocabulary that even a pirate wouldn’t repeat, Dad and Mom managed to get the garage door open long enough to get Dad’s car out and parked in the driveway until the door could be repaired.

That’s when Asa’s new friends went to work! For the past two weeks they have been busy building a nest in Dad’s car! They might have got away with this plan, because Dad doesn’t go out in the car nearly as often as we use to go places. But one day while taking Dad for a walk, I alerted him to a chipmunk who dashed across the driveway and appeared to have jumped up into the underbelly of the car.

I began sniffing at the car, while Asa listened to his little friend rattling around in there. Dad opened the hood, and much to his displeasure, discovered two chipmunks looking back at him! They quickly fled from where they had been squatting. Being on leash, and still recovering from my paw surgery, I couldn’t chase these trespassers, who took advantage of Asa’s kindness. However, it was apparent Asa had no plans of chasing them away, as he sat there with a concerned yet goofy expression on his face. It was obvious the broken garage door was no accident, Asa invited his friends to live in Dad’s car!

Well I’m pleased to say the eviction process has begun, and the chipmunks will not be living in Dad’s car this winter. I’m even happier to report that yesterday a new garage door system was installed so Dad can park his car inside again, and Mom can get her car out if needed. I admit never in my wildest dreams did I imagine Asa would go through such great lengths to help his new friends. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to write very specific rules about new friends, so Asa doesn’t get anymore wild ideas!