About a month I had a situation arise where I realized I was about to become Wile E Coyote and I mentally referenced how it usually worked for him and I made sure to not do that.
I'll try not TL/DR too much, but a squirrel had some how found his/her way into my garage from the attic. I heard something knocking stuff all over the place out in the garage and when I looked was very surprised to see a squirrel jumping all over the place knocking valuable things all around and damaging them.
It seems he/she had come in to the garage through a small I-beam hole up in the ceiling after somehow maneuvering around the duct work mods that had been made long ago from my attic. I didn't know they were in the attic let alone that they could get to the garage from there.
So I opened the garage door and schussed him/her toward the open door, thought he/she was gone, used a small box and some tape to block the hole by the Ibeam thought that was that. Nope, after 15 minutes the banging around continued and when I looked the squirrel was by the closed hole and trying to get through. YIKES!!
So I grabbed a broom and shussed him/her away again, toward the huge open garage door to the outside, saw him/her run that way, figured they left and that was that. Nope.... this happened 2 more times.
On the 4-5th time of me going out in the garage and seeing the squirrel up by the plugged hole, trying to claw his/her way through this time the squirrel did not run. He/she stood their ground. and as I move the broom to try to schuss him/her to head out he/she started squirrel hissing at me. wtf?
This squirrel hissing was a cross between a dog growl, a cat hiss and a rattlesnake and it was very disconcerting. This was an animal that sounded cornered and I was only the length of a broom stick away from a squirrel I knew could leap 10 feet and could mess something up with claws and teeth... and he/she was not getting schussed away again.
He/she went back towards the hole, which was back into my house... AND I THOUGHT, NO WAY SQUIRREL!!! You will NOT be going back that way... I AM IN CHARGE HERE!!!
And that is when I remembered the stories of the Road Runner and Wile E Coyote stories, and I realized I was going to be Wile E. and we all know how it always ends for him.
To make a long story short... I capitulated. I regret not taking video that day to show you the sights and sound of a squirrel telling me to fuck off and that he/she was going back the way they came in (not out the garage door) so you could fully understand how this was going.
So after another round of hissing I managed to move the squirrel away from hole and then I unblocked the hole to allow him/her came back in. Soon after coming back in I heard the squirrel come and go scurrying and up and away back into the attic.
And since then, over the last month, I have cleared the squirrels out of the attic (well before any babies were born) and sealed all the entry/exit points.
TL/DR A month ago I was about to become Wile E, but I learned from those cartoons, and I swallowed my pride and let the Road Runner win that battle. Who knows what might have happened otherwise?
PS- I really do regret not grabbing my camera and capturing video of the sights and sounds of a pissed off squirrel looking down and hissing at me from 5 feet away on that I-beam, it was crazy.