I have some very exciting news for you all. It has taken since I moved in here, but 6-7 years later after steady feeding and providing oak and maple trees, the neighborhood squirrels have taken notice:
Look at that chonk! I will be adding more corn and some peanuts to the bird feeders now that I know this is happening!! I am so excited.
Breyana and I just got back from the farmer’s market. Picked up some nice berries and tomatoes, a bunch of kettle corn for dad, and some fudge for Breyana’s mom. We went out to eat at a new (to us) Mexican place and it was very very good. Just a lovely last day before the heat dome comes in and makes it miserable outside. I know, I know, it’s hotter elsewhere, but until you have done 98 degrees with WV humidity, you can just can it.
Off to watch some White Collar. I had forgotten just how many attractive people there are in the show- I mean Matt Bomer is like a god among men, and that Marsha Thomason is absolutely gorgeous and so it that Gloria Votsis. I like how it is a non-threatening show and I can watch it without really having to think or get stressed out.
Quaker in a Basement
Ugh. I don’t care where you go. Ninety-eight is too damn hot.
Kristine Pennington
Damn squirrels here in Denver eat all the birdseed and upset the bird feeders and water dishes 😡 and don’t get me started on the magpies ….
WaterGirl
Matt Bomer and Marsha Thomason are both eye candy, and I love both characters. I love Neal and Diana, and I also love their interactions with each other. Yes, I am re-watching White Collar, also. I can’t remember if I am on season 3 or 4.
gratuitous
So, is dear old dad gonna eat all that kettle corn himself? Asking for a friend.
MomSense
I am also rewatching White Collar. I watched it when it first aired and I think another time through. Bonus is my mom loves it and it isn’t so complicated that she can’t follow.
I don’t know what the high temperature was here today, but we had a big thunderstorm with hail. That is out of the ordinary for Maine.
Josie
Oh, John, if you think 98 degrees with lots of humidity is bad, you haven’t spent August in Houston, Texas. Did I mention it was built on sort of a swamp?
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Kristine Pennington:
Where we are in Denver, we feed the squirrels, probably 1/3 of them by hand and most of the others will come close.
We have anti-squirrel bird feeders that actually work. We also provide plenty of water.
Of course the next issue will be protecting the backyard tomato crop. You’d think being given plenty of food and water they’d leave them alone but they don’t so it’s screen around the plants.
Now, the magpies, we’re probably in agreement on them.
SpaceUnit
Just wait until the little buggers start digging up and eating your flower bulbs
ETA: Also it’s beautiful here and I’m going for a walk. So there.
Elizabelle
I saw that squirrel and was thinking “Brunswick Stew.” There is a mythology about West Virginians.
TGIF!!
eclare
Cole, I saw the food photo on Twitter, looks yummy. Were those beef, pork, or chicken?
Elizabelle
@Josie: The hottest September I ever spent was in Dallas. Gah!!
eclare
@SpaceUnit:
Or get into your attic.
Josie
@Elizabelle: I can believe it. The only difference between Dallas and Houston is that Houston is much more humid. ETA: My middle son was born early in September. I spent most of August sitting in the swimming pool, looking like a frog on a lily pond.
He is 40 years old, and I still remember how miserable I was.
eclare
@Elizabelle:
The hottest summer I ever spent was in London/Paris (well Paris was having a legit heat wave). The temps weren’t awful, but when I was there not much had A/C, and if a place did it definitely wasn’t the Arctic blast I’m used to. The Tube is unairconditioned, so I started taking the double decker buses and sitting on top.
different-church-lady
Do not encourage squirrels.
Do not encourage squirrels.
DO NOT ENCOURAGE SQUIRRELS!!!
FOR GOD FUCKING SAKE, DO NOT, I REPEAT, DO NOT ENCOURAGE SQURRELS!!!!!!
JCJ
@eclare: probably squirrel…
Old School
Congrats on getting squirrels!
different-church-lady
@eclare: Cute, adorable little MACHINES OF DESTRUCTION!!!
Sister Golden Bear
It’s June, so you really should throw a Pride brunch for them. I mean how do we know that they’re not gay.
different-church-lady
SQUIRRELS: “Oh, so you’re not going to let us take every last strawberry or one bite out of every tomato, eh? Fine, then we’ll just CHEW OUR WAY INTO YOUR ATTIC, TAKE THAT BIPED!!!”
WaterGirl
@different-church-lady: Decades ago, someone in our neighborhood (before my time) BROUGHT IN SQUIRRELS.
For a little while, I had to reconsider my view on the death penalty.
Chet Murthy
@Josie:
My last day in Houston before driving up to NYS for grad school: late August 1986. 104F in the shade and 100% humidity. Oof. I spent all my summers in college in Houston, and it was *brutal*. No Aircon.
Nukular Biskits
The MS Gulf Coast says, “Hold my beer!”
Chet Murthy
@different-church-lady: @WaterGirl: I’m there with you! Squirrels *did* chew their way into my attic! Every day/night for over a year I’d hear scratching and chewing up there, and would wonder if the next rain would come straight thru, or worse, pool up there and rot the wood. I rented this place for myself, and sure didn’t expect there to be upstairs neighbors! Eventually my landlord had to redo the roof, and that seems to have gotten rid of them. For now. Soooo many damn squirrels. Soooo many.
Ohio Mom
@eclare: Oh yeah. And it’s expensive getting squirrels of your attic, and fixing things so they don’t get back in.
CaseyL
This time of year, I leave the sliding glass door to the big balcony off the living room open so Oscar can go out as he pleases.
I also eat a lot of pistachios, and often have a bag of them on the table by the sofa.
Sometimes, when I go out, I forget to put the bag safely on top of the fridge.
Did you know that squirrels love pistachios? “Love” as in “go crazy for”?
Shall I tell you how many times I’ve come home to the pistachio bag on the floor, on its side, a new hole chewed into it, and empty pistachio shells all over the living room? Once the squirrels ate what looked like half the contents of the bag.
And when I’m home, squirrels will come onto the deck, and into the living room, to see whether: a) the bag is there and b) the human is around. When I tell them, “No; go away,” they give me the hairy eyeball, and a few irritated tail twitches, as they leave… and check again a few minutes later.
Sister Golden Bear
Speaking of squirrels, earlier this week I was officially diagnosed as having Inattentive ADHD, which has been woefully under diagnosed, especially in girls and women, because it doesn’t fit the stereotype of a 10-year old boy bouncing off the walls. Squirrel!
Not really a surprise. Ever since I started learning about it, suddenly big parts of my life made sense. Squirrel!
The thing is, I’d been “high functioning” — at least until I hit the wall, careened across the track, and burst into flames. I just was really good at compensating and masking it. (Turns out a lot of highly people have ADHD.) But it took a tremendous amount of mental and emotional energy to do so. Which is big reason I’ve got the horrible burnout I’ve been working through. Squirrel!
First step will be working with an ADHD coach to hopefully find better ways of managing it without burning myself down again. After some of that, we’ll see if meds are also needed.
Squirrel!
Elizabelle
@eclare: Yeah. HVAC companies gonna have a field day.
@Josie: the things moms do for kids!
Sister Golden Bear
You could get fancy, like this YouTuber who lays out differing feasts in her window sill.
Miki
@eclare: And/or into your eaves. They shit – a lot – and it stinks to high heaven.
Jay
https://www.wired.com/story/titan-submersible-disaster-inside-story-oceangate-files/
This means something to me. For several years I worked for a company involved in Deep Sea Marine, from ROV’s, through Suits, DSRV’s, drilling gear to a digital, plug and play, Research Net in the Salish Sea.
When a ruZZian MIR got entangled in an abandoned net, we loaded up the air containers, all of us, from CEO to Receiver, and slept under our desks for three days, ate the take out the Company brought in, our qualified divers did trial dives in the pressure tank, while we, and thousands of other submarine companies employees did the same, waiting for “the call”.
We all did the same when the Kursk went down.
The “go fast and break stuff” people piss me off.
RandomMonster
Watching the news I just want to say that Cavalier Johnson is my porn name.
eclare
@different-church-lady:
Yep. I had a dog kill one once, and a neighbor saw and remarked “that’s a good dog.”
eclare
@Chet Murthy:
No A/C? In Houston? I think you win (is it really a win?) for hottest endured summer.
Nukular Biskits
@eclare: That was either a slow, dumb squirrel or a very fast dog.
TS
@Kristine Pennington:
When I lived in the UK, neighbor had a bird feeder which the local squirrels could empty in less than 24 hours, so the birds never had a chance to feed from it.
Steve in the ATL
@Ohio Mom: please tell me what works. PLEASE!!!
So far I’ve had the most success spraying hot sauce, but it’s not nearly enough.
WHAT WORKS???!!!11111
zhena gogolia
@different-church-lady: I’m sitting here wondering why anyone would be excited about squirrels.
Chipmunks, yes, I love them.
Chet Murthy
@eclare: This was the ’80s. Poorer people in TX lived without AC, and we were poor undergrads working shit summer jobs. It was what it was.
eclare
@Sister Golden Bear:
Glad you got a diagnosis, that has to be a relief.
Jharp
I had a serious squirrel issue in my last house in the suburbs.
The straw that broke the camels back was when one chewed the wires in my mini van causing me to miss a very important business meeting.
That’s when I took matters into my own hands with a pellet gun and I kept a record.
64 squirrels in one year. Twice 4 in one day.
pluky
@Josie: My mother had 4 kids, one for each season as it worked out. She still complains about how nasty it was to be in the last trimester during the summer. Like summer in Tidewater Virginia before AC. As the September child lets just say this involves a bit of side-eye my way.
Steve in the ATL
@zhena gogolia: agree completely. Squirrels are up there with lead blowers and kale on the hate list, while chipmunks are cute and provide hours of entertainment for our cats (they bat them around for a while, passing them to each other, then let them go—they’re not cruel cats!).
eclare
@Nukular Biskits:
Very fast dog. He also managed to kill a raccoon. I am not good handling stuff like that so I called my yard guy and paid him cash to bag the corpse and put it in my trash can.
Josie
@pluky: Lol. I can totally relate.
Miki
@Jharp: You reminded me of the time the FLBs (Flying Little Bastids) chewed the wires in my sister’s Subaru (parked for a month near a black walnut tree while she was traveling). Repairs were north of 2 grand, so she traded it in for a cheaper used model.
And then there was another time one entered the basement through a loose AC hose and came upstairs and, well, you can imagine the rest.
They’re rodents, FFS
Josie
@Chet Murthy: I can’t imagine going all summer without AC.
Ohio Mom
@Sister Golden Bear: The thing about ADD meds is that they work immediately and only for a part of a day. Unlike for example, SSRIs for depression, where you have to wait weeks until they kick in.
I’ve known some kids who only take their attention meds on school days — it’s not like you need to wean yourself off of them, like some other psychiatric meds.
So it would be a quick experiment to see how much relief you get from meds. You will need to work with a MD and that may entail a wait for an appointment. Which may be an argument for making an appointment now. You can always cancel a far-off appointment if in the meantime you decide you’re doing okay with your new strategies.
Jay
@Jharp:
@Miki:
If you prop the hood open, with a chunk of 2″x4″, you won’t have mice, rats or squirrels nesting or tearing up your engine compartment.
If you stick an empty tin can over your exhaust pipe, you won’t get chipmunks building nests in your muffler.
When it comes to porcupines eating your brake lines and fuel lines however, you are on your own.
John Revolta
@WaterGirl: How do you bring in squirrels? Like, do you get boxfuls of them somewhere and turn them loose? Or do they hitch a ride under your car?
TaMara
@pluky: I was born on the hottest day in August (that year), and my parents lived in a 3rd floor walk up, no AC in NE. I’m sure my mom was miserable that last month.
Quaker in a Basement
@Nukular Biskits: I hear you. I grew up just a little to the east in Florida.
But still, 98 is 98 and anyone who has to suffer it deserves a bit o sympathy.
BellyCat
@WaterGirl: Truth for both characters. Just finished the entire series. Long live Mozzie!
MagdaInBlack
@Jay: Please ‘splain why propping the hood open works?
Eta: in the body shop biz, we’ve done a few “squirrel ravaged” vehicles, so I’m curious.
Sister Golden Bear
@eclare: Mixed emotions. Relief at knowing why I had challenges, but a bit of grieving for what my life might’ve been like if I’d gotten a diagnosis far, far earlier.
That said, I don’t regard ADHD as a disorder, rather that my brain just works differently than neurotypical folks, and while there’s downsides, it also has its superpowers. Such as the ability to hyper-fixate and accomplish loads when I’m really in a groove. (It’s so counterintuitive that’s one reason I never suspected until recently that I had ADHD.
@Ohio Mom: Useful to know. I’ll ask the ADHD clinic whether it makes sense to schedule an appointment ahead of time. I’ve got some other medical stuff going on, so that was another reasons I’m postponing trying out meds for about two months.
Miki
@Jay: Having a miniature poodle has also helped. The rescue boi I had before my current boi caught more than one baby FLB, drove a big-butt bunny through a chain link fence that was too small, and caught at least one morning dove on the fly. The instinct is strong.
But TBH, the neighbors cutting down their old maple tree has been the best eliminator.
BellyCat
@Sister Golden Bear: Congrats on the realization! My GF is the same and it’s been a a reckoning for us both.
M31
had some rodent or other chew through a fuel line once, and after a few minutes of “huh smells like gas i wonder if I got some on my hand at the pump” figured it out, in time, thankfully
fucking Toyota, was the replacement line .79 a foot off a roll like with my old VW bug? nope, a custom dealer part that cost $150
also, routing the fuel hose over the top of the engine seems kind of dumb to me
M31
squirrels used to chew through power lines on the pole outside my house, and when I called the power company they said if there was a dead squirrel on the ground next to the pole with all the hair burnt off its tail, yup that was the cause
Jay
@MagdaInBlack:
Brings in light, allows easy access for small predators, removes the normal protection they use such as burrows, tree nests, old woodpecker holes.
20 years of living up in the hills, on a 40, south of Kamloops, proves that it works.
karen marie
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: When I lived in Boston, having seen people feed squirrels peanuts in shells, I brought some to the Public Garden one day. One day. Never again.
When I ran out of nuts, those motherfuckers insisted I was lying and chased me as I ran out of the park.
Jay
@John Revolta:
Amazon or http://www.squirrel!!!!.dom
Miki
I’m thinking maybe squirrels are the mammalian equivalent of willow trees. Keep them far away from houses and vehicles.
Sorry, John.
Ohio Mom
@Steve in the ATL: In our case, the ultimate cause was that the corner eave/fashia/soffit (I really don’t know one roof part from another) had a small area that was rotting away from a gutter leak. It’s very easy to chew through soggy wood.
We learned that from the squirrel catcher we hired that it was a mother and her two babies. I think it was finding a safe spot for her brood that motivated the squirrel to begin with.
His traps also snared an old male squirrel and a raccoon, and he charged us for those two as well. Everyone got driven to the next county over and let loose in the woods (supposedly) per state wildlife law.
Then we hired a contractor to replace the rotted boards.
I don’t know if any of this is applicable to you or not. It was an expensive episode. I feel for you.
Nukular Biskits
@Quaker in a Basement:
Agreed. High temps + high humidity = Misery, wherever you are.
Believe it or not, the two places I actually think are worse than the MS Gulf Coast with respect to heat/humidity/heat indices are Norfolk, VA, and Sasebo, Japan.
ALurkSupreme
We hated the squirrels when we lived in the land of Omnes. The squirrels down here in Ravenworld are much more chill.
Ken
Late to the thread, but I see I’m not the only one who thought “this will end in tears”.
Jay
@Ohio Mom:
Our PITA wildife issue was woodpeckers in spring. Red heads, Pileated, half a dozen other species.
They would hammer on the house, pretty much everywhere, hear an internal echo, figure that they had found a hollow “tree” and would proceed to try to make an entry hole. Facia, Siding, the metal roof, eaves,…………… 4:30 am, alarm, for a month.
And voles in the garden.
raven
@ALurkSupreme: I hate em with a passion.
Sure Lurkalot
@Kristine Pennington: You must live in my hood, we’ve got the same menagerie with juvie magpies and starlings too.
Bought this bird bath after the squirrels destroyed the one on a pole.
https://click.pstmrk.it/3s/fountainful.com%2Fproducts%2Fcampania-b132-kosei-birdbath/aXAc/fAC2AQ/AQ/4ed69686-afd4-4a70-95f0-0c5e73fc2cf0/1/bgd862eHxI
Harrison Wesley
I wish I could open my heart this way.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QageTiDmErs
comrade scotts agenda of rage
Yikes. Remind me never to mention our embracing of squirrels if we’re all in the same room, I’d get shivved.
Unless Cole were there, he’d have my back…right?
MagdaInBlack
@Jay: I do not doubt you. I hadn’t thought of the predator angle.
ALurkSupreme
@raven: Interesting. Must be something more peculiar to our neighborhood, then. My wife often wonders why the squirrels don’t dig up her bulbs and indulge in the rest of their usual nonsense.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
Those of you looking for squirrel-proof bird feeders of all kinds:
https://store.bromebirdcare.com/
These actually work. Not cheap but work.
We feed a ton of birds along with hand feeding squirrels, the neighborhood kids come over and feed em and think it’s great.
Phylllis
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: We have this one. Loads of fun watching the squirrels go for a high speed spin & then fling themselves off of it in disgust.
MagdaInBlack
@Jay: Also too, I dont believe we made it to Kamloops, but I think I may have mentioned that I have been in the mountains at Pillar Lake, when my father decamped from Vernon, because that was not his idea of camping
I liked it better than Vernon, too
japa21
@comrade scotts agenda of rage:
Back when we lived in a house with a big yard, we would have up to 7 bird feeders going at one time. The squirrels were able to get to one, but stymied by the others. A few of them were the ones you highlighted. We actually enjoyed watching the squirrels. Never had any problems with them.
Sure Lurkalot
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: We have 2 of the Brome brand. The squirrels don’t eat from them but they jump from a nearby fence or tree limb which causes the feeder to swing and spew seed below. Then a squirrel gang comes in and hoovers up the sunflower seeds and a bunch of doves fret and coo over the birdseed. Rinse repeat about every other day.
But they are the best ones we’ve bought by far.
Albatrossity
Looks like you need to start researching recipes for “grain-fed squirrel”.
Jay
@MagdaInBlack:
this wasn’t his idea of camping?
https://www.pillarlake.com/
Or was it back when it was just a FSR site? (Dirt, picnic table, firepit, outhouse)?
Baud
🐿️
MagdaInBlack
@Jay: That was. What was not, was Vernon. Too many people
I was 10, so this was in “68. I suspect thats the same place, updated.
Odie Hugh Manatee
I see a blurry grey smear that vaguely looks like a giant rat with a large snail behind it. Weird wildlife there, John. ;)
I had to build a frame for a net around the raspberries in the back yard since the birbs declared war on them this year. Works nicely but I’m going to change out the mesh on the front for some heavier stuff so the cats don’t get tangled up in it. It’s like they don’t even see it there. In the meantime I am keeping it open during the day when they are out. Raspberries are coming in nicely and we want all of them for ourselves!
The snap peas are taking a beating in the wind today. Average speed at the home is 18 with gusts to 25. Damned windy this year compared to the past but the temps have been nice (upper 60’s to mid 70’s).
Miki
FYI – voles are horrible/terrible rodents, too. They can and will dig under concrete slabs, especially really old ones, and wreck your old garage floor.
Bird feeders apparently invited the rodents, no matter what I fed. The feeders are all gone, and so are the voles.
eclare
No bird feeders here, mainly because I have an indoor/outdoor cat who is a pretty good hunter. At least she used to be, knock on wood, it’s been years since she caught a bird.
Kayla Rudbek
@WaterGirl: my grandfather used to live-trap squirrels and drive them across the Mississippi River into St. Paul and drop them off. I always figured that there was at least one other old man in St. Paul who would trap squirrels in his backyard and then drive them across the river and drop them off in Minneapolis. Conservation of squirrels.
NotMax
@Miki
Voler suppression!
:)
Chet Murthy
@Kayla Rudbek: I might get blasted for this, but I gotta ask:
Lots of people eat all sorts of meat, would trap and kill rats if they infested their houses, and yet get all bent outta shape at the idea of killing squirrels. I don’t see it. They’re rodents, and when they infest houses they’re downright pests. I just don’t see why they’re somehow different. Is it all down to their big eyes? B/c that seems like a pretty superficial basis on which to decide squirrels are better than rats.
Jackie
@Chet Murthy: It’s their floofy tails combined with cute poses. Rats have neither.
Sister Golden Bear
@zhena gogolia:
Squirrels are rats with cuter outfits. I don’t mean that in a complimentary way.
Sister Golden Bear
@Kayla Rudbek:
The squirrel distribution system.
JustRuss
Oh FFS Cole, squirrels are the alpha assholes of the animal kingdom. Yesterday I look out my kitchen window and they’re having sex in my backyard. Day before my cat’s minding her own business and a squirrel is taunting her from 20 feet up a pine tree. Fortunately another alpha asshole, a bluejay, took notice and decided to fuck with Mr. Squirrel. I enjoyed that almost as much as watching the Freedom Caucus devour its own.
O. Felix Culpa
@MagdaInBlack: It doesn’t. At least not with packrats.
StringOnAStick
You folks are complaining about heat and humidity and I’ll be covering everything against potential frost Saturday and Sunday night here in central Oregon. I’ve got a pie cherry tree loaded with fruit, blackberries full of buds, tomatoes over 2′ tall, and the latest frost risk I’ve ever experienced!
StringOnAStick
@O. Felix Culpa: Thanks for sharing your hearing aid info, I’ll be headed there soon.
Jay
@Chet Murthy:
Here, the native squirrels are Douglas Squirrels, and are hard pressed by the invasive Red and Gray squirrels. The Douglas Squirrels are about twice the size of a chipmunk.
The Reds and Grays are about half the size of a domestic rabbit, one would make a meal for one, but, they are mostly urban, so no hunting.
Further south, they get bigger. More meat on them.
Jay
@O. Felix Culpa:
Never had an issue with packrats and vehicles,
had lots of other issues,
What’s the back story?
Lily
Last year the squirrels planted crocus they got from somewhere. And they have a few tiny oak trees coming up in front of my house. Good foresight in planning for their descendants.
When a squirrel plants an acorn that grows, how many generations after the planter would it take before one gets an acorn from the new tree? (And plants it…)
Lily
Had to read about squirrels and rats lately. I thought I had squirrels. But I have rats. Big difference.
Acc to what I read, squirrels have 2 litters a year at predictable times. They come inside, if they can, to have babies and then supposedly all go back outside when grown. So patch holes in the eaves before each of the 2 birthing times.
Rats can have many more litters in a year w more babies, who mature faster. (Seems like it’d help a lot if there were birth control bait you could put out at the same time as trapping, just to stay ahead.) The pest guy I called said they don’t trap
them, they only poison. (Which we won’t do–it can kill raptors, cats, other predators. ) The other reason not to poison, if anyone’s interested, is many die in the house and (pest guy said) esp in summer a house will become unbearable.This is the 1st time we’ve ever been killing something. Raccoons, even mice, we’ve live trapped and carried away to somewhere nice. Build them a little duplex and leave a supply of good food and books.
Kristine Pennington
@different-church-lady: agreed *sigh*
@TS: where in UK? I lived in Ruislip in the early 60’s my dad was stationed over there in the Air Force….
Kristine Pennington
@Sure Lurkalot: I live in Bear Valley West and I’m considering one of those flying squirrel bird feeders……the magpies tho are another problem I have no answers to…..
Gvg
@Lily: I can attest to its bad to poison. We didn’t but a rat died somewhere in my parents house decades ago. Probably in a wall or maybe the ventilation system because the odor was everywhere and my dad and I got sick, with a kind of laryngitis that impacted me for over a week. Very sore throat and felt very sick flu like. For at least 15 years after flu’s or allergy attacks could give me serious laryngitis. I had 2 more serious attacks including one that caused me to miss 2 weeks of work. 1 week I was so medicated with prescriptions that I essentially got up, fed pets, ate, took meds, slept 12 hours and repeat. No real memory of more than a couple of days. It was awful.
Gvg
Cole, I do not share your enthusiasm for squirrels. They do not need encouragement, because they become too much. I notice you haven’t mentioned crows lately. Did you find out they drive away other birds?
If you are going to feed squirrels make them work for it and entertain you. There are rotating squirrel feeders that they can get food from, with effort, so you won’t get hordes.
Spinning squirrel feeder
SW
I enjoy the squirrels on my property. Feed them squirrel logs. Use squirrel proof bird feeders. They seem to work. I live in a heavily wooded neighborhood. To me this means I live in the squirrels environment. Figure it is up to me to be compatible with them. So far after 20 years it seems to work. Your mileage may vary.
Kristine Pennington
@JustRuss: lololol 😂
Kayla Rudbek
@Chet Murthy: the fluffy tail makes them look cuter than rats, that’s why.
City of Minneapolis probably had/has a lot of restrictions on what you can do to kill wildlife, but there wasn’t any restriction on live-trapping and moving the squirrels, so Grandpa never got into any trouble for moving squirrels across the city limits.