Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Squirrelmageddon?

I don't know if it's happening in other parts of the country, but in our neighborhood, it's Squirrelmageddon. I am NOT making this up and I'm not the only one who noticed.

At first I thought I was over-reacting and making it up and the only one who noticed. Driving out of my neighborhood, I drive on my street and one more, and then I'm on fairly main streets. On each street, a squirrel will dart out. And keep running. Right in front of my car, almost daring me to hit it.

Now, I'm not an on purpose squirrel-hitting sort of girl. Of course, I won't swerve, or slow down, or otherwise endanger the occupants of my vehicle, so that squirrel better be fast, or turn around, or he might get hit. Usually they do that frantic combination of all of those and somehow manage to avoid my wheels, though there have been many times they went under my car, but emerged unscathed on the other side.

Nowadays though, they're not doing that. They're on some sort of mission. Maybe they're running from squirrel-zombies only they can see. Maybe they ARE squirrel-zombies and that's why they just run, knowing they're already dead, so why would getting hit by a car matter?

But so often? Nine out of ten times I pass two squirrels in two blocks. It's worse out on the main streets. Squirrel road kill everywhere. Seriously. A massive increase in dead carcasses littering the landscape. Maybe they got hit. Maybe the zombie-squirrels killed them, sucked out their edible parts, and left the pancake behind. I don't know. But I was wondering about my sanity, about the possibility of a true Squirrelmageddon, but hadn't said a word to ANYONE. (For obvious reasons.)

Then one day The Transporter was transporting me (because that's what he does) and says to me, out of the blue:

So Mom, have you noticed the Squirrelmageddon?”

What do you mean?” (acting casual, digging for info)

I mean, there are like at least twice as many squirrels running around, and they're not stopping, and there are dead ones everywhere. What's up with that?”

Well, I have no idea, but YES, I've noticed but I thought I was, you know, a little crazy.

Well, yeah, you are, but not about the squirrels.”

So we've been counting. And debating causes. Meanwhile, I'm wondering if you've noticed anything odd about the squirrels in your neighborhood. Do tell.

~Tina

P.S No actual squirrels were harmed in the making of this post.


P.P.S There is the possibility that I've been watching too much Walking Dead. But that doesn't change the fact that in my town, it's Squirrelmageddon.

14 comments:

Philip Verghese 'Ariel' said...

Hi Tina,
Very interesting read.
I have heard about monkey trouble in our city roads few years back,but never heard of squirrelamagadon!!!
Nice to be here again after a bit gap.😊😊😊

D.G. Hudson said...

I think the little rodents are trying to take over the world, first they play with our minds by acting suicidal, then the hordes will really come. They know where all those peanuts and seeds we feed them come from.

I had a Canadian standoff with a black she-squirrel who wanted a nest in my house which she was trying to move one little squirrel at a time.
Thanks for the warning. . .

Arlee Bird said...

I think if there were any squirrels around where I live they already all been eradicated. I don't see any here. In my mother's yard it's a different story. She has tons of them living in her big ol' trees. They seem to be pretty good critters. I don't think any of them have become zombified yet.

Lee
A Faraway View

Unknown said...

HA!
I haven't noticed that around where I live. It might be some sort of population boom that causes more of them to go squish!

JoJo said...

I haven't noticed squirrels around here at all. And, in fact, there haven't been any acorns this fall at all....not even empty caps. Maybe all the squirrels migrated west due to lack of food here?

LD Masterson said...

I haven't noticed an increase in dead squirrels on the road (although there seems to be more of them trying to get into my birdfeeders) but we've got road-kill raccoons everywhere.

shelly said...

LOL! Love the line, Maybe zombie-squirrels killed them, sucked out their parts and left the pancake behind.

All I can tell you about our neighborhood squirrels is that they tease the dickens out of the dogs.

Hugs and chocolate!

Jo said...

We have lots of black squirrels round here, as well as grey, but I haven't noticed any increase. Did think one was suicidal the other day.

Unknown said...

It's always squirrelmaggedon here...I've even considered getting a cat, but my dogs would hate that.

Delightful romp, Tina.

M.L. Swift, Writer

Brian Miller said...

ha. we are being over run....we have a ton of squirrels and plenty dead ones on the road...i wonder if there was not a population boom...because we were just noticing similar the other day

AJ Lauer said...

I've noticed it too! I wonder if it's something about the Colorado squirrels..?

Anonymous said...

Nope, no squirrels here. Lots of birds though - seems each species has its own special song to sing too. It's a little noisier than usual, and also very enjoyable.

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Tina .. I think squirrelmageddon is for the winter .. perhaps mashed squirrel forms part of their diet .. they are cannibals at heart .. do you think they can salt their food - so it keeps over winter?!

Love the word though .. and ours in the garden have gone mad recently .. cheers Hilary

Briane said...

I'm picturing your neighborhood -- piles upon piles of squirrel carcasses reanimating in a wave of horrifying-but-somehow-still-cute zombies.

Chilling.

I love squirrels. Even the one that once ate a hole in my apartment roof and tried to get in. Sweetie, on the other hand, takes your stance; she is staunchly opposed to wildlife at all. Whereas, I take the more balanced approach: I oppose nature only when it is inconvenient for me. (e.g.: Salad, yardwork, snow.)

Awesome post.

I'll trade a link for a link:

http://www.thinkingthelions.com/2008/04/what-we-really-need-are-more-songs-in.html