22 responses to “Vandals.”

1. 

   alex said on October 31, 2006 at 5:57 pm

   You need to get a Doberman. Mine eats squirrels for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Especially those nasty, territorial red ones.

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2. 

   Connie said on October 31, 2006 at 6:42 pm

   We had a squirrel draining our hummingbird feeder overnight all summer. Drove us nuts. He broke 3. You’d think we would learn.

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3. 

   mary said on October 31, 2006 at 7:13 pm

   New dog, sweet, harmless golden retriever mix, has brought me two dead squirrels so far. I’ll loan her to you.

   On a different note, here are two consecutive headlines from MSNBC:

   Destined to be fat?

   Mirror test suggests elephants self-aware

   Now I’m imagining elephants asking, “Does my ass look big?”

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4. 

   Bob said on October 31, 2006 at 8:24 pm

   The natural environment is downright messy and inconvenient. We should all be grateful to Bush & Co. for their commitment to their party’s long time goal of eradicating it.

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5. 

   brian stouder said on October 31, 2006 at 9:26 pm

   Well – the girls and I did the trick-or-treat walkabout; it was lots of fun – but it got sharply colder as night descended.

   Saw an inordinate number of teenagers out and about, but they were wearing entertaining costumes and adding levity to the proceedings, so although I will discourage our young folks from doing that when they’re old enough to drive*, I don’t really have an issue with it.

   A wild-life non-sequitur – although I’ve never seen a squirrel go after one of our pumpkins**, this past weekend when we visited extended family in rural Logansport/Cass County, I saw a wild fox for the first time ever! She(?) wasn’t very big – maybe half again bigger than our cat, and was just loafing along at the edge of a cornfield on the gravel road that leads up a hill, beyond which is Pam’s folks’ farm. As our van approached, she looked us over and then casually walked into the cornfield and disappeared; we got within 15 feet of her. (anyway, it excited me!)

   *I saw several vehicles which were driven by/loaded with kiddos!

   **but we HAVE seen a nocturnal ARMY of raccoons wipe out our large (sour) grape vine; we neglect it completely, and the birds usually pick and choose for a week or two …but the raccoons mass and finish the job all at once

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6. 

   Dorothy said on October 31, 2006 at 10:07 pm

   Brian my kids still remember the early evening they saw, in a field near our house in Eighty Four, PA, ten deer and a fox. It was the first time they’d seen a fox. That was 14 years ago. After that, this particular field was always known as the “Ten Deer and a Fox” stretch along Green Valley Road.

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7. 

   Connie said on November 1, 2006 at 12:35 am

   We have had one fox sighting here in rural Goshen, saw several in rural Seymour. My father claims to have seen the mysterious cougar that the DNR denies is in Leelanau County. The DNR even told a National Park Service ranger that she must be mistaken.

   Which reminds me of a great book about the question of whether there are still any in Michigan, Beast of never, cat of God : the search for the Eastern Puma, by Bob Butz. I highly recommend it.

   Sorry, it’s the librarian in me, I can’t help myself.

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8. 

   Joe Kobiela said on November 1, 2006 at 10:20 am

   About a year ago I about hit a coyote with my airplane when landing at Auburn, also they have photographed wildcats up by Angola. Also my brother in law lives just north of Grand Rapids and had a near by neighbor visited by a small black bear.
   Joe

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9. 

   John said on November 1, 2006 at 10:35 am

   I keep my tree rats in line with my trusty air gun. We have had sightings of coyotes in our neighborhood (Eastern Connecticut).

   It was pitch dark by 5:30 here but they didn’t start arriving until about 6. We had about 30 trick and treaters last night. Nearly all little ones, but a few jr high schools either in a group or with a younger sibling. By 8 o’clock it was all done, which was good as the rain started an hour later. Good News! There are Junior Mints and Almond Joy leftovers for me!

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10. 

    Kirk said on November 1, 2006 at 10:55 am

    i’ve seen coyotes here in nancy’s old hometown of upper arlington, ohio, within sight of the downtown columbus skyline. of course, the fact that we live a few blocks from the osu dairy cattle pasture and nearby trees makes it less amazing. still, we keep an eye on our yorkie when he wants to go out back at night.

    p.s.: nance, when is the time-stamp thingy on this site going to “fall back”?

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11. 

    Dwight the Troubled Teen said on November 1, 2006 at 11:03 am

    Well, they are Motown rodentia.

    What they really need is an after-nutgathering club, where they can meet and play squirrell basketball. You know. Keep ’em off the branch.

    Have you ever considered unionizing the squirrels? That would at least put a dent the productivity of their destruction.

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12. 

    ashley said on November 1, 2006 at 12:38 pm

    Growing up in the South, my buddy from Cleveland always laughed at our grey squirrels, saying they wouldn’t last a day in Cleveland. After visiting his home, I saw why. These red squirrels are thugs.

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13. 

    Danny said on November 1, 2006 at 12:59 pm

    Nancy, after looking at the picture of the jack-o-lantern, my wife suggests that you just set pumpkin out next year and let the squirrels do the whole thing.

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14. 

    Sue said on November 1, 2006 at 1:07 pm

    Mary,
    Saw both articles and your comment cracked me up!

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15. 

    Pam said on November 1, 2006 at 1:13 pm

    Do they like to eat pumpkin or do they just make a huge mess? If they eat it, then it’s a nice way to get rid of a pumpkin. Mine just goes in the trash. But if they’re just playing with their food, then they need their paws slapped. Nan, did you know that mom once made a pumpkin pie from a real pumpkin? She had to strain it through cheese cloth. That’s why I throw my pumpkin away and buy the canned stuff.

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16. 

    Rich B said on November 1, 2006 at 1:16 pm

    Raccoons have attitudes when they’re normal, rabies is like steroids. Last week on http://www.thislife.org/ was a story told by a woman attacked by a rabid raccoon that’s scary.

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17. 

    Connie said on November 1, 2006 at 1:53 pm

    Here’s a new halloween tip for those who, like me, decided to hide from the trick or treaters. If you go to Meijer’s at 7 p.m. on Halloween Eve you can have any parking space in the lot.

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18. 

    Dorothy said on November 1, 2006 at 2:10 pm

    It’s also a good night to go out to dinner. I didn’t do that last night, but my boss did. She said the place was nearly deserted. I stopped by Little Caesar’s to get my Hot ‘n Ready and turned in my tracks and returned to my car. AFTER I counted 15 adults and 4 kids standing around waiting for fresh pizzas. We had leftovers instead.

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19. 

    Dave Kobiela said on November 1, 2006 at 3:47 pm

    Troubled Dwight; You may want to check your facts next time before you criticize us “Unionized Squirrels”. Dana Corp. (yes, that bankrupt Dana Corp.!) moved a GM axle assembly line from Fort Wayne(Union) to Columbia, Missouri(Non-Union). We used to run 280-300 axles per shift with 17 men. It now takes 25 employees to run 220-240 per shift! Yes, they are paid about $5.00 less per hour. They also managed to lose one of Dana’s largest contracts, for Dodge Trucks, in the late 1990’s due to quality and delivery problems. Right again, “Union Squirels” in The Fort had won that contract 2 years before!

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20. 

    Dave Kobiela said on November 1, 2006 at 3:50 pm

    Troubled Dwight; You may want to check your facts next time before you criticize us “Unionized Squirrels”. Dana Corp. (yes, that bankrupt Dana Corp.!) moved a GM axle assembly line from Fort Wayne(Union) to Columbia, Missouri(Non-Union). We used to run 280-300 axles per shift with 17 men. It now takes 25 employees to run 220-240 per shift! Yes, they are paid about $5.00 less per hour. They also managed to lose one of Dana’s largest contracts, for Dodge Trucks, in the late 1990’s due to quality and delivery problems. Right again, “Union Squirrels” in The Fort had won that contract 2 years before!

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21. 

    Ricardo said on November 1, 2006 at 8:20 pm

    I think it makes the jack ‘o lanterns look scarier.

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22. 

    Joe Kobiela said on November 1, 2006 at 9:05 pm

    Took the words right out of my mouth bro.
    Joe

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