Squirrels

[uwe]

A flattening experience, no doubt. Run, rodent, run ...

[TBird1958]

Yeah, he was a little flat furry patch by the next day when I drove by.........

[Highlander]

The official designation is RTA

I tend to call it "severely modified..."

"Modification" is not good...

[Psycho Bass Guy]

On a positive note, I've always had bunches of gray squirrels in my yard, some are decently friendly, but the other day, I noticed a very pretty red squirrel had moved in too. When we first moved in, there was a super friendly squirrel who would come right up to people. We called him Speak because he would chatter and speak to people (and it's a joke from the Tick cartoon). I never tried to pet him, but I fed him all the time. One time he came up to me asking (NEVER begged, just asked) for some food. I didn't have any nuts, what I normally gave him, so I went inside to see what I could find. All I had was bread heel piece. I came back out on the porch and he had left, so I just put it on the corner of the porch. I went back inside and went about my business. A few hours later, I went outside and the bread was gone, and in its place was a neat pile of green grass about 2-3" long, carefully stacked and arranged. Speak paid for his food.

[uwe]

The polite squirrel!!! 

[patman]

we have bunches of squirrels also...as well as tons of deer...I too saw a very young buck the other day...only other time I saw a buck near the house, I was coming home from a gig in the middle of the night, and it was a large older one with a full rack.

I have a 5 foot by 6 (maybe 7 foot...big window) foot window in my bedroom, and sometimes I can watch the deer while practicing on the weekends. They just walk around the yard.

[Granny Gremlin]

We have mostly black ones here now.  There used to be more greys and a few reds but they've been pushed out by the more aggressive/racist black ones (in many local parks you can see groups of blacks chasing a red or grey around when they show up).  A couple hours north and the blacks/greys disappear and you start getting chipmonks and small reds (shorter, less bushytails, look like a larger chipmonk with no white/black stripes on it's back just solid red - chipmonks are redder up here than some pics I've seen of American ones).

My only good squirrel story is the time I was camping, sleeping under open sky, and woke up with a small red perched on my chest eating a nut.  Apparently I don't move much in my sleep.

[4stringer77]

My brothers used to shoot squirrels in the backyard with a bb gun. Then they would chuck the carcasses on our neighbors roof. Our neighbors at the time happened to be our cousins as well and my brothers thought it was funny to hide a bunch of dead rotting squirrels on their roof for some reason.
I didn't partake or approve of this. I wasn't interested in fishing or hunting as a kid as much as my bros.
When I saw Bambi as a child I told my parents I'd rather grow up to be a deer than a man. I was also enraptured by the Boston Symphony at Tanglewood around the same time. I'd say things worked out for the best and I've come to grips with being a man instead of a deer and I love music instead of killing.

[Highlander]

... Speak paid for his food.

Very allegorical... nice story

There are a number of "Royal" parks near us and it is quite easy to find hand-feeders (we've had a few over the years) but there was one we saw for a few years we nicknamed "Mama" (I heard someone else call her "Shine" as she had an opaque eye; presume from an accident and partly blind) as she always seemed to be (obviously) feeding kits - Roshina used to sit cross-legged on the grass and Mama would sit patiently on her knee and strip monkey nuts; she was very territorial and would chase off any competition...
They built a tea-room in the area and it became far too busy and not all the visitors were squirrel friendly...

Scott... seems like there are some other closet squirrel/critter fans your side of the pond...

Ari... how did your brother turn out though...?

[gearHed289]

I've come to grips with being a man instead of a deer and I love music instead of killing.

Very nice!

[4stringer77]

Ari... how did your brother turn out though...?


They're both happily married with two sons each and thankfully they didn't up as serial killers, although one is a Lawyer.

[Psycho Bass Guy]

My brothers used to shoot squirrels in the backyard with a bb gun. Then they would chuck the carcasses on our neighbors roof. Our neighbors at the time happened to be our cousins as well and my brothers thought it was funny to hide a bunch of dead rotting squirrels on their roof for some reason.
I didn't partake or approve of this. I wasn't interested in fishing or hunting as a kid as much as my bros.
When I saw Bambi as a child I told my parents I'd rather grow up to be a deer than a man. I was also enraptured by the Boston Symphony at Tanglewood around the same time. I'd say things worked out for the best and I've come to grips with being a man instead of a deer and I love music instead of killing.

That's not hunting. That's adolescent sadism.

[Granny Gremlin]

It can be a fine line.

[Highlander]

... although one is a Lawyer.

ROFL

(I did wonder... with apologies )

[the mojo hobo]