Beware the squirrels!

[thistlechaser]

Beware them if you are flatbread or a small bird.

Or perhaps if you live in a dumpster.

I live in a large apartment complex. Among other features, we have trees and dumpsters. This means we have a lot of squirrels.

On one of my first days living there, a squirrel dropped a corn cob on my head. That would be bad enough if it hadn't been from the dumpster, so it was old, gross, and had been half-eaten by someone (and then further eaten by the squirrel). There had been enough kernels left on it that they fell down the back of my shirt. Yuck.

This morning, as I was approaching the dumpster to toss out a bag of trash, I saw a squirrel struggling with something. Whatever it was, it was as big as it was. As I got closer, I thought it was a slice of pizza, but as the squirrel wrestled it up the nearby tree, I saw it was one of those really big flatbreads. The squirrel will be able to feast for a week on it!

Once I arrived at work, I encountered another squirrel. It was crossing our parking lot, but unlike most squirrels, it was just walking instead of that bouncing-bounding they do. It had been holding something in its mouth, but again I couldn't tell what until I got closer. A bird. A dead bird. I had no idea squirrels ate meat! The bird was big enough and heavy enough that the squirrel was struggling to carry it.

Now I'm worried. Instead of just watching for trash to be dropped on my head, I have to be concerned that squirrels will drop out of the trees to eat me. Luckily I'm not nearly as tasty as leftovers from the dumpster. I hope.

Comments

[eglantine-br.livejournal.com]

If you are french fries you are also in danger! Please be careful, if you are a potato product of any sort...

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

It's not just squirrels that are a threat to them! (My arm was twisted into having this icon.)

[quistie.livejournal.com]

You have obviously never heard of The Squirrels (one of the lesser-known Hitchcock suspense films), where thousands of squirrels started attacking people in a small town for unexplained reasons.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Ha! I would watch the heck out of a movie like that. With their little hands, they could open locks and use tools! Talk about real horror!

[hamsterwoman]

a squirrel dropped a corn cob on my head. That would be bad enough if it hadn't been from the dumpster, so it was old, gross, and had been half-eaten by someone (and then further eaten by the squirrel). There had been enough kernels left on it that they fell down the back of my shirt

Oh, EW!

I love the squirrels that live in the neighborhood parks and occasionally hang out on my work campuses, but I've never been bombarded by them, or I would probably feel differently!

Also, the dead bird thing, ick! I also didn't realize squirrels ate meat (though of course rats are omnivorous, and they're not that far from rats), but apparently it's not that uncommon. Huh!

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Wiki said they eat meat "only in times of hunger", but I can't imagine squirrels around here being hungry -- so many people, so much food! Maybe the bird was hit by a car and the squirrel just found it; no need to pass up on food that's right there.

Even with them dropping food on me and perhaps wanting to eat me I still enjoy watching them. Plus they're free entertainment for my cat!

[eglantine-br.livejournal.com]

Why would they eat meat at times when they were NOT hungry. All of us eat 'in times of hunger.'

But I do like them. (But I like subway rats, so perhaps my standards are low...)

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that was my thought, too. Plus, I assume the page meant long periods of hunger as opposed to a sudden case of the munchies, but who knows.

I like rats, seagulls, and pigeons as well. They all take advantage of a niche, plus they're interesting to watch.

[doxxxicle.livejournal.com]

Thanks for that picture. Now I won't be able to sleep tonight. Our condo complex has squirrels all over the place. :P

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

*laughs* Isn't that perfect/horrible? I wanted to add an image to the post, but I hadn't expected to find one that worked so well!

[tedwords.livejournal.com]

Squirrels do make me a bit nervous, because if they ever became evil, they could do a world of hurt. Of course, my real fear is of raccoons, because they are so big and smart, but a flesh-eating squirrel would make me shudder, too...

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I guess raccoons climb trees, too? Squirrels would be faster though. Both of them have too clever little hands.

Once I read a book about zombie animals, and to me the squirrel zombies were the scariest because they could get everywhere -- into your vents and then into your house.

Worst thing would be if the raccoons and squirrels teamed up...

[tedwords.livejournal.com]

Do you remember the Stephen King short story about the sewer that had giant mutated rats and bats, and some creatures that were a cross between the two? That one always creeped me out...

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Hrm, I don't think I read that one! I used to read all of his stuff, then one day I just stopped and haven't read anything by him since. No reason at all, and I even have a couple of his books in my To Read pile. Was it one of his newer stories?

[tedwords.livejournal.com]

Isn't that funny, I did the same exact thing! I remember the exact book, too. It was Misery. I said, "That was great, I don't need to read another Stephen King novel now..." and I never did.

So no...this was one of his earlier short story collections, as I recall. Just looked it up...the story was called "Graveyard Shift":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graveyard_Shift_(story)

[tedwords.livejournal.com]

Oh, one other thing about that book: my parents were at a conference that appeared at and they asked him to sign our copy! So, our paperback copy has an inscription that says "Remember, they only come out at night" :)

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Ha, that's great! That's one of the big downside to ebooks -- no way to get an inscription in them.

Hm, I'm sure I read Night Shift, but I hardly remember any of the stories, so I must have been young. King was the first author I ever followed! The school bus driver asked to borrow Pet Sematary from me (and I said no, figuring I'd never get it back).

I don't remember which of his books I stopped on... Looking at wiki's bibliography for him, it looks like Cell was the last of his I read, the one where cell phones turned people into zombies. Though I did read Under the Dome as well. Between those two books, I can see why I quit him! Heh.

[tedwords.livejournal.com]

I guess I was lucky...I stopped on a high note! I never really liked that Stephen Kind based Under the Dome on the plot of The Simpsons movie...

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I didn't like Under the Dome, then when I read confirmation that the druggie was indeed supposed to be George W Bush and his friend was supposed to be Dick Cheney, I liked it even less. I'm a Democrat through and through, but I want entertainment and amusement from my fiction books, not poorly done charactertures that are clearly attacks on real life people. I don't like those two at all, I'm not trying to defend them, but the characters based on them were just awful. It was bad, unenjoyable writing.

I bet the Simpsons Movie did it better!

[spike7451.livejournal.com]

That is one scary picture. lol

Your experiences with squirrels kind of makes me glad we don't have them here in Australia.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Yeah, you guys just have giant honking spiders! I'll stick with the squirrels, haha. :D

[spike7451.livejournal.com]

And sharks and blue ring octopus and poisonous snakes and crocodiles. LOL!