A few things can be counted on in the foothills: The summer sun will sizzle down at more than 100 degrees during August. Drunken swimmers will need to be rescued from the American River. And squirrels will knock out power to thousands every year.

There is not much we can do about the summer heat.

And as long as visitors mix booze with a day on the river, emergency personnel will be kept busy.

But what?s with the squirrels? Can?t PG&E at least get a handle on these little critters?

Last week power was cut off to 2,100 customers in the Auburn area. It seems a gray, bushy-tailed rodent terrorist tangled with a transformer in the 600 block of Dorothy Way.

The little fellow was fried for trespassing, but power was still cut off to hundreds of businesses and residences along Highway 49, High and Nevada streets.

The first few times a squirrel managed to break PG&E?s security system, perhaps some thought it was funny.

It?s not funny anymore. It happens all too often.

Wildlife-caused outages are becoming increasingly common in the Auburn area. In 2003, squirrel-caused power failures knocked out service for hours to 14,000 in January and 5,800 in November.

According to PG&E spokesperson Jann Taber, although no statistics are kept, a significant number of power outages can be traced to birds and squirrels.

It?s impossible to say exactly how much all this costs in terms of lost business, but it?s definitely a pain for everyone affected.

PG&E has made great strides to get its financial house in order after bankruptcy reorganization. It?s time the energy giant put a working plan together to replace some of its aging infrastructure.

There are many unpleasant things in life one must accept, because they cannot be fixed. But we?re betting PG&E can come up with a plan to thwart squirrels.

It?s time to get scurrying so we can keep our businesses open and our air-conditioners on.