[random]

[wispfox]

Slept well last night, happily enough. Yay, sleep!

Saw a _black_ squirrel on the way into work. I didn't know squirrels came in black! Was a bit startling.

Had frost that hadn't yet melted on my car this morning; need to make sure my windshield washer fluid is good for cold temperatures. Do _not_ want it freezing.

Comments

[jul3z.livejournal.com]

I hate hate hate black squirrels, they look so eeeeevil! First time I ever saw one was in Stanley Park in Vancouver. Gives me the creeps.

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

Oddly, my first thought was: hey! How does it survive winter? It'd be _really_ easy for predators to see!

Squirrel of darkness

[majes.livejournal.com]

Don't worry - that's just one of my minions, off doing my bidding - you know - spreading the acorns of evil, flicking the tail of despair, and sitting on their haunches, hands folded together, in the posture of cuteness ... horrible, horrible cuteness.

Re: Squirrel of darkness

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

Uh. Actually, it was mostly moving around a lot, confused by the car.

Re: Squirrel of darkness

[majes.livejournal.com]

Oh... That squirrel... yeah, I know that one. He's always out there embarrassing me. I tell you, it's just so hard to find quality fuzzy minions nowadays.

[wurmwyd.livejournal.com]

Hi There!

They have them in Canada. I've never of heard of one vacationing in Massachusetts!! When I stayed with my uncle at a fishing resort in Ontario, they had a bunch of them, and really used to people. I would feed them spicy-hot Doritos, and then they'd go up into a tree a screech pitifully for a few minutes before coming down for some more.

It'd be cool if we'd get some down here in Jersey.

[eisa.livejournal.com]

Black squirrels are pretty.
The cream colored ones are gorgeous, I've only ever seen two of those.

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I kinda liked the look of the one I saw, once I got over the startlement.

Cream colored ones? Now I want to see one!

[ratatosk.livejournal.com]

I saw a white or albino squirrel in Mt. Auburn cemetery this summer. It was sort of ghostlike when the sun hit it right and came streaming through its tail-fur. :)

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

GHOST-SQUIRREL!

(Spaaaaace Ghooooost!)

[jacflash.livejournal.com]

We have a whole clan of black squirrels living in the woods behind our house -- they showed up a few years ago. I grew up in New England and had never ever seen one before then.

They seem just like, y'know, squirrels... gathering acorns, taunting the cats, etc.

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

Mmm. Black squirrel clan...

Sounds like some sort of D&D thing, somehow! Especially with the ability of cat taunting. ;)

[harlequinaide.livejournal.com]

I'm actually a black squirrel lover, grey squirrel hater. The black ones are nicer, kinder and prettier. It was startling the first time I saw one, too. Took me back to Watership Down, and I thought, "It's Inele, come for the sick and the foolish squirrels."

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

Foolish squirrels, do not run out in front of moving vehicles!

Aaaaiiiieeeeeeee!

[sailorjim.livejournal.com]

You've been marked!!

Black squirrel of doom, midnight rodent of death!!

Your only hope to lift the curse is to locate thirteen fresh nuts, stuff them into your cheeks (avoid walnuts, if at all possible), then bury them in a circle pattern around a old tree!!

Hurry!!

(You might want to have someone video tape it, by the by. Just to prove to the squirrel spirits that you actually did it, should the matter come up. Perhaps to send in to America's Funniest Videos at a later date ... hey, who sez lifting a curse can't earn a few bucks?)

Re: Aaaaiiiieeeeeeee!

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

Entirely aside from the curse lifting, now I am curious as to if I _can_ fit thirteen nuts into my mouth! (am I sufficiently squirrel-like? _That_ is the question)

Re: Aaaaiiiieeeeeeee!

[bridgetester.livejournal.com]

Peanuts. :D

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

True. But that feels like cheating, somehow!

[bridgetester.livejournal.com]

Almonds? They're bigger. :)

[lerryn.livejournal.com]

Chocolate covered Macadamia nuts?

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

But it would be sad to bury those!

We have them in Maryland, too

[old-hedwig.livejournal.com]

About half of the 2 gazillion squirrels in our yard are black. I prefer them to the grey, although all squirrels are mighty cute.

Re: We have them in Maryland, too

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

Wow! You have a _lot_ of them. Maybe they like Maryland?

Re: We have them in Maryland, too

[old-hedwig.livejournal.com]

We have always theorized that an odd black one ended up in our yard by chance and bred a whole tribe of them. It is squirrel heaven here, since we basically live backed up to an oak forest, we are generous with the bird seed and the old lady who lived here for 60 years before us was too. I only ever saw as high a percentage of black ones once before, at an apartment building where the old people sat on benches and fed the squirrels. They gave the black ones preferential treatment in popcorn distribution, which skewed the mix.

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

joedecker's yard has tons of black squirrels. My guess is that they're selected against out in the woods, because they don't match the trees, but they can find more places to hide from predators -- and there aren't as many predators -- in towns, so they survive to pass on their genes.

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

Ah... yeah, I can see that. I still can't quite figure out how they manage to hide during winter, though (at least here), since they are the precisely _wrong_ color to hide on snow!

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

But so are grey foxes the wrong color to hide on snow. They aren't out and about as much, and there are fewer predators (airborne, anyway) around houses than in the woods.

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

Mmm. True. Still. Fascinating. :)

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

(Whoops. Any by foxes, there, I meant squirrels.)

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

Suspected. :)

[bridgetester.livejournal.com]

Yay!

Ohio is a bastion of them; they were near trademarks of both Ohio schools. Kent even sells stuffed versions in the bookstore, so I have a little baby one hanging from my backpack.

Yeah... freezing fluid=bad.

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

Kent even sells stuffed versions in the bookstore, so I have a little baby one hanging from my backpack.

Hee! Now I want one! Baby black squirrel...

[bridgetester.livejournal.com]

Try http://shop.efollett.com/htmlroot/spiritshop/CampusShopProductDisplay.jsp?merfnbr=732&campusShopMerfnbr=732&institutionId=203517&prrfnbr=2031125&cgrfnbr=38973&cat=GIFTS

If that doesn't work

http://shop.efollett.com/htmlroot/storehome/kentstateuniversity732.html

Clothing and Gifts section (link at top of page)

6th page of that section

They don't have the bitty ones like the one on my backpack at the website though.

---

Apparently, "some guy" from Canada imported breeding pairs of black squirrels to Ohio (Kent, at the very least)

[bridgetester.livejournal.com]

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

Ooooooooh. Pretty, cute creatures!

[bridgetester.livejournal.com]

Yup. All squirrels are strange though, not just the black ones.

Black squirrels?

[lerryn.livejournal.com]

Weren't there black squirrels in Mirkwood in The Hobbit? Great big ones?

Re: Black squirrels?

[bridgetester.livejournal.com]

*looks*

There are!
Chapter 8: Flies and Spiders

Second paragraph:
"There were black squirrels in the wood. As Bilbo's sharp inquisitve eyes got used to seeing things he could catch glimpses of them whisking off the path and scuttling behind tree trunks."

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

I completely don't remember! :)