Wetfeet - The Squirrel Toss video seems to have been removed. Bummer. Richardol - Oh, you meant the real Mark Trail. Cool. Interesting info - Squirrels that are black are grey squirrels w/ a different gene in play.* I first saw black squirrels in N. MN and thought they were pretty. They probably eat orchids, too. RP, red squirrels in the U.S. aren't endangered, but I just ran across info on Wikipedia about grey squirrels taking over in England, partially because they have no natural predators. That's too bad. "On some occasions, during the fall, large numbers of gray squirrels will search for new places to live. It is thought that this behavior, known as emigration, results when squirrel numbers are high and food is scarce. When mature forests covered most of eastern North America, this mass movement of squirrels was quite spectacular." http://www.dnr.state.md.us/wildlife/greysquirrel.html Can you imagine a "mass movement of squirrels"? It'd be like the Hitchcock movie "The Birds" or the attack of the killer tomatoes. "Hunters have to be quick and accurate to shoot the swift and elusive eastern grey squirrel. It is interesting to note that naturalist Ernest Thompson Seton credited these qualities of marksmanship, developed to a high degree by early American squirrel hunters, with helping to defeat the British during the American revolution." http://www.hww.ca/hww2.asp?id=89 Wow. My grandfather, who grew up in rural Arkansas, often shot squirrel, which we ate. Wild turkey, too. I didn't realize what a good shot he must have been. Any of you who can shoot a squirrel - amazing. The fact that squirrels travel through their territory in the same sequence each day suggests loads of possibilities. If you knew the little darling was going to hit your back yard around 5:30 every afternoon... http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Sciurus_carolinensis.html "Are There Squirrels in Heaven?" This and other topics are discussed on another anti-squirrel site: http://www.scarysquirrel.org/page1.html. WC8 *"Eastern grey squirrels Sciurus carolinensis commonly occur in two colour phases, grey and black, which leads people to thinkÂmistakenlyÂthat there are two different species. Black is often the dominant colour in Ontario and Quebec, toward the northern limits of the species range. Farther south the black phase is less common and is not found at all in the southern United States. This may indicate that the gene responsible for black coloration has some cold-weather adaptation associated with it." http://www.hww.ca/hww2.asp?id=89

Then playing possum is real, not a myth! She sure looked dead in that picture. Was she trapped in the recycle bin or did you just startle her? I think I remember you finding one of her ancestors a few years ago in the same bin, although I don't remember it playing possum. I'm trying to imagine what it would be like to climb over a bunch of huge empty bottles and jars and cans - not the easiest ladder. Glad she's OK, if a bit histrionic. Claire

We have squirrels, which are called squirrels. We have actual tree rats which are rattus rattus. They nest above ground level. I don't want to eat either one for reasons others have explained. You don't know what a city squirrel, or rat, has been eating. I'm sure Debra's freshly hunted country squirrels are less objectionable. :) Report? How were they? Jkom said it's pretty sad how removed we are from our food sources as Americans. When I was small, we made butter in school and learned all about different foods. A truck would come around to the schools with cows. I think that's where the milk for the butter came from. My folks took us to the country on weekend excursions to see farms, and we spent vacation time on a friend's ranch. I don't dwell on these things much, but I stopped in a chain grocery store for containers today and would have picked up a few things I needed, but every aisle I walked down I kept wondering where the actual food was. The only thing edible I bought was ketchup and condiments aren't exactly "food". (To be fair, I didn't need milk or produce.) I've lived where the bread was just piled naked on a serve yourself shelf. Some people would question people's grubby hands on the bread (though most people just take a loaf and don't touch others). The powers that be said that they'd consider requiring wrappers when someone could demonstrate that people had gotten sick from the bread. :) My visit today to the Palace of Packaging made me wonder, while I was there, what the kind of people who buy most of their food there eat. Cardboard and plastic?

@mom that looks great. I definitely need something stronger than just plain chicken wire. I’m going to look today on line. Thank you! @allison that’s an incredible kitchen. I love it. @patricia I agree with you that chicken wire will eventually look cheap so I’m assuming I need to get a thicker insert. I wanted something that would let air through since all my kids play sports and all of their equipment will be stored in their lockers. I’m painting the lockers a fun color as I’m putting up a really fun wallpaper with fish from Osborne and Little and thought inserts would be easy and my carpenter already made them so I’m stuck for now. Thank you everyone for your input I love all these threads and great input from you all!