Dear Mr. Squirrel (or should I say Squishy?)

[William]

On my rides and driving around the town I have noticed and extraordinary number of your cousins/comrades squished on the roads as of late. Has the coming of Fall and the decrease in wheel hunting opportunities stimulated your Hypothalamus to trigger your kamikaze gene? I have noticed you have not been around much. Could it be that you <snicker> have been squashed yourself?


Looking forward to no response.

Your friend,
William ;)

[Keith A]

Hey William. I had a funny interaction with a squirrel that I think you would appreciate. On my commute home there is a short section of a bike path that I use to get under an interstate highway -- it has a steep embankment on one side and a canal on the other. As I was riding along, there was a squirrel in front of me and when he saw me he took off running away like a mad man since there was no where to escape to. As soon he found the closest tree (which was just off the path) he climbed up and stopped about 4 feet up, turned around and immediately started barking at me. He went from scared to aggressive as soon as he felt safe...and I had a good chuckle.

[BillG]

On my rides and driving around the town I have noticed and extraordinary number of your cousins/comrades squished on the roads as of late. Has the coming of Fall and the decrease in wheel hunting opportunities stimulated your Hypothalamus to trigger your kamikaze gene? I have noticed you have not been around much. Could it be that you <snicker> have been squashed yourself?


Looking forward to no response.

Your friend,
William ;)


I've noticed this too. Never seen so many squirrels.

[FlashUNC]

I've been seeing very few dead squirrels on my rides lately.
Instead, its been bigger stuff.

Possums in particular. Have seen a couple cats and even a dead foal.

I'm thinking we've wiped out the squirrels and moved on to larger stuff now.

[tiretrax]

Possum and a racoon also on the street. Too many of your cousins are in my neighbors pecan tree trashing my driveway. They're getting fat and will make an easy target for an air gun!

[ergott]

Crazy, I was going to start the same thread.

Perhaps they've fattened up for the winter and aren't as fast.

[William]

It's crazy, they're every where. There is one squashed right out front. Just because I just hosed off my rear wheel means nothing! ;)

Almost 1:00 and no Squirrel response!! :banana:





William ;)

[JMerring]

squirrel sympathizer here (i don't get the hate). he'll show up, i have no doubt. i'd even bet my nuts on it. call me...well...squirrely.

[Steve in SLO]

They're either gathering food for the winter or twitterpated or both

[bozman]

I have noticed a few more, too. On Saturday they were joined by a fox and a turtle. Gross.

I was riding at lunch the other day and saw a wild turkey standing by the bike path. That was pretty cool (it was an actual turkey, not an empty bottle!)

[Keith A]

...
Almost 1:00 and no Squirrel response!! :banana: Hmmm...I found out something very interesting about Mr. Squirrel

[William]

Hmmm...I found out something very interesting about Mr. Squirrel


He's nuts?!?!? :D




William

[gdw]

Watch out, it could be the start of another "Great Migration."
http://www.myoutbox.net/flyger.htm

"In 1968, a migration of squirrels occurred in most of the eastern United States; Alabama, the Carolinas, Georgia, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Virginia. In New York, one hundred thousand drowned squirrels were pulled out of one reservoir. The number of squirrels killed by automobiles was a thousand times as high as usual. Some estimates of the squirrels number went as high as eighty million."

http://www.blackmouthcur.com/Gray%20Squirrels.htm

[Andrewlcox]

Can you imagine how many squirrels and other wildlife there would be without cars.

This is a kinda related story.

I had my bike tuned about 2 months ago and it was running silent. My buddy and I were on the bike path, I had just passed him at over 25mph and then a deer walked out in front of me. I almost T-boned the deer and my buddy saw the whole thing. My disc brakes that were recently tuned probably save me and the deer (not that there would be much damage, IDK). The deer peeled out on the pavement so bad, it was crazy.

Andy

[LouDeeter]

I must see over 200 squirrels on my rides in the mornings these days. A lot of acorns are on the street and the squirrels are in their fall gathering mode, even in Florida. I think it must be a DNA thing. We have seen a lot of confused squirrels running left, then right, then left, then thump. Best to make sure you have both hands with a grip under the hoods or bars when that happens, as even a little squirrel can throw a rider at 20 mph.

[Mr. Squirrel]

dear mr. william,

we get tired after a summer of chasing nuts and shiny wheels. mr. nute has been feeding me so i have stayed very spry.

mr.jmerring,

can i come live with you? you could you make me a comfy little nut-o-lounger with your wonderful leather for my den? one that would recline and vibrate please. also with a warmer for my nuts. nuk nuk nuk!

mr. squirrel

[William]

Aww man!!! My day is ruined!!!! :crap:






William

[Wilkinson4]

Here William. I know you love this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-x-NiiedjM

mIKE

[tugrul]

As soon he found the closest tree (which was just off the path) he climbed up and stopped about 4 feet up, turned around and immediately started barking at me. He went from scared to aggressive as soon as he felt safe...and I had a good chuckle.

There is a tree out front of my parent's place with no other trees near by. I had leaned my bike up against it and went inside when I heard all sorts of "barking" outside.

I looked around and didn't see anything until I looked up at the tree. A squirrel was throwing a fit about the bike being near his only way out.

I moved the bike, he left.

[cmg]

they have taken up residence above the drop ceiling at my office. and have apparently fattened up. keep waiting for one to step on a weakened ceiling tile.

[maunahaole]

Put some hungry feral cats up there for a day. Problem solved.

[tiretrax]

Here William. I know you love this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-x-NiiedjM

mIKE
That's great.

[William]

Here William. I know you love this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-x-NiiedjM

mIKE


YES!! :banana:

Getting my fly rod and reel down right now! :D





William

[nighthawk]

I was on a bike path through the Paines Prairie Preserve, down in Gainesville, FL one summer.. I had just gone down a hill and was banking a left curve when a squirrel came darting out in front of me. My front wheel rolled over it, and it shot up and hit one of my legs.. and then fell to the road side. Horrified, I jumped off my bike and ran back to it, expecting the worst. As I approached, it got up.. hopped to the nearest tree.. and climbed to about eye-level with me... at which point.. I swear.. it looked right at me... and shook it's head! Had a good laugh that day.

On another note.. We have black squirrels here in Western MA. Anyone else have any other rarities? I remember back in Flagstaff, there were Kaibab squirrels.. just like grays, but with with pointy ears.

[LouDeeter]

Kabob Squirrels? I'm just curious, do you cook them well done or slightly medium? When I was a kid, we hunted squirrels with .22. We would skin them, then my Mom would humor us and cook them. We tanned the leather and made all sorts of things from squirrel skin. The meat was about as nasty a taste as I have had, but we thought it was supposed to be good, so we ate it. We had red squirrels that we called Fox Squirrels, and the common gray squirrel. We even had the flying squirrels, but you didn't see many of them.

[LouDeeter]

This is about right.

[nighthawk]

Kabob Squirrels? I'm just curious, do you cook them well done or slightly medium?

KaIBAB not KaBOB... Like this:

[vsefiream]

I'm partial to this contraption:
launcher (http://youtu.be/l3Ya6z-NlDo)