John and I agree on many, if not most, important things in life.
But we have very different feelings about squirrels. He hates them and often tries to chase them off. He runs out of the family room door, waving his arms to shoo them off.
I’m pretty sure our squirrels are baffled by John. On the one hand, he puts out a delicious smorgasbord for them every single day. On the other, he runs out, waving his arms in the air, as if warning them of an alien invasion.
“Humans!” they twitter to each other. “Can’t live with ’em, can’t live without em!”
Me, I find squirrels so entertaining and so clever, that, well, I just can’t begrudge them some bird seed. Or most of the bird seed. I realize that from time to time we have to replace the expensive squirrel-proof bird feeders that they cleverly open, empty and render completely useless. Then there is the $4.2 billion we spend annually on birdseed instead of the $1.38 we would spend if we only had birds at our buffet.
Yes, a large number of squirrels enjoy E&J’s all-you-can-eat buffet. If you’re a squirrel at our house, you’re “In with the ‘In-Crowd.'”
Anyway, about two months ago, John walked into the kitchen from the Dining Room where he has been throwing papers around since our dog Cooper got too old to go upstairs to John’s real office where he used to throw his paper. And John saw a squirrel drinking out of our bird bath.
He started towards the door to do his arm-waving routine, when he stopped. Because John saw that something else was going to chase the squirrel away!
Another animal came up onto our little deck, and headed towards the squirrel. A fox!
Google Image
The fox lunged at the unsuspecting squirrel, and they both disappeared into the hedge. Only one of them was ever seen again.
Meet Lucky:
Photo Credit: ME!
(Yeah, it was an incredibly Lucky shot!)
Or maybe we should call him “Sorta Lucky.”
FiftyFourandAHalf 
Neighbors indeed! They’re everywhere.
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I love them — squirrels and foxes. We now get a deer on that little deck. She is messy and eats the hedges!
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If Lucky was a crack squirrel, he would have ripped that fox to shreds.
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Possibly. But I haven’t seen Lucky in a while. Perhaps he OD’d
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or moved into my head
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It would be a long walk for Lucky. Given that you’re in California and I’m in Virginia.
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They move around a lot…
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They must really hate all that packing.
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They just bring their nuts…
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A fox out during the day is one hungry fox indeed.
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Good point — It may have been early morning or late afternoon. I don’t know when, exactly. If it were a raccoon I’d be worried about rabies!
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Before we moved into the city, I used to love watching the squirrels scampering along the fence behind our house! But I also hated the squirrels because they nested in our garage where they dropped their food all over our vehicles; tried to get into the house when it was cold & chew through the electrical wiring, etc. They are very destructive – but cute!
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They are both. I have a love-hate relationship with them!
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You might want to hold off on the name until you see him again. Then you can either call him Lucky or Houdini.
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Actually, Sorta Lucky is a regular around him now. He started showing up a few days after his rendez-vous with the fox, and is frequently out there. This was the only time I’ve had a camera nearby.
I think he’s kind of lost his fear, though. Everybody was moving — me, husband, dog. And he just turned and looked at me. He must be quite philosophical about his longevity!
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Ha ha! I love how you filed this under “conspicuous consumption.”
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Nobody else noticed that, Peg. You win the prize! As soon as I find the rest of Sorta Lucky’s tail, it’s yours!
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That was a lucky shot! And some lucky squirrel. That fox won’t show his face again.
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I used up all my photography luck on this one picture. It never happened before and will certainly never happen again. I was Lucky to get it though!
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Squirrels are taking over the universe. Funny how we seem to get a blog theme going. Love your squirrel shot too.
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Thanks Renee! You have more nature to deal with though!
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I’m with John…and the fox. I hope the latter got him. 🙂 They’re more than a nuisance.
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Oh, Eric? Must we disagree so early on in our acquaintance?
They are pests. They are rats with cute tails. But they are so resourceful. I just have to love them.
Don’t hate me because I anthropomorphize animals. Or because I’m beautiful (hopefully you get that reference and don’t think I am a total a-hole!)
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If disagreeing about pests is the extent to which we will differ, I suspect our acquaintance will survive. 🙂 But tell me, how do you fell about wild rabbits?
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Wild rabbits aren’t a problem here — and I’m not much of a gardener anyway. But wild deer are a terrible scourge. They eat everything and then jump in front of your car. They are beautiful but dumb and dangerous! And this year they are everywhere. We are even seeing 4-8 males together — in our yard!
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OMG – that is one lucky squirrel! I have terriers on a radio fence so my squirrels stay outside of the invisible line, unless they are feeling lucky (none who venture inside are ever lucky). My birdfeeders are exclusively for birds! Tell John they make a machine that puts out sounds that squirrels hate – I use one in my garage. Sadly humans also hate the sound so it is only marginally effective since I can’t stand to run it all the time. Great shot BTW!
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Isn’t he a hoot? Our ancient dog (a hunting dog, no less) was never a match for them. There were few in Switzerland, so he never really cared to chase them.
We had one of those electronic gizmos for mice way back. Didn’t work at all. And John is very sensitive to noise, so, double whammy!
Isn’t that an amazingly lucky shot? I NEVER get the shot. Ever. I stared into my iPhone (sorry) with my mouth hanging open in shock!
(An Osprey flew over my head while we were in Maine with a fish in its talons — 10 feet above my head. I had my iPad in my hands and took the most amazing shot of clear blue sky as the osprey took his fish well out of range)
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I’m even more impressed that you took it with an iPhone!! Now as for catching an osprey with an iPad, I couldn’t manage a shot of my dog with my iPad, no ergonomics at all 🙂
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I’m astonished that I got it. I’ve tried a dozen times. This time, everybody was in the kitchen/family room and I happened to say quiet everybody, there’s Lucky, I want to get a picture. John said loudly, rushing towards me and Lucky and the door, “what did you say, I couldn’t hear you.” Cooper, the dog, who is deaf, suddenly heard me and rushed towards me and the door and Lucky.
Lucky looked up and no doubt was saying “WTF?”
As for the Osprey miss, yeah, the cameras are quite weird. But it was in my hands and the osprey was in the air just above me, soooooooo. It was a lovely blue sky though. Quite worth the picture. Really. I treasured it for the 2 seconds it took me to delete it.
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Well – I don’t think I’ve manage to capture any wildlife apart from a sleeping pup on my iPhone, so kudos to you. I had a crack at an osprey this spring with my camera and barely managed a shot – they fly awfully fast. I think taking a photo with an iPad is like trying to take one with a suitcase.
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Good analogy. However, I rarely blog on my suitcase!
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😀 I saw a suitcase band once…
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If that squirrel took out a fox, maybe you should hire him as a security consultant.
And you can pay him in birdseed!
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Good thinking, Guap. He could run rings around the bad guys.
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I know they are pests but I too love squirrels. Sorta Lucky – I gave out a snort laugh by the time I saw that. Great story!
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I’m glad you’re in my camp, Mae. The are just so clever!
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I’m thinking maybe John is “lucky” if that fox is coming that close to your deck. If the fox and John got in a scuffle who knows what he’d be missing when it was over?
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Ooh, I hadn’t thought of it that way. But then he survived the Fweens in France … https://fiftyfourandahalf.com/2011/10/18/life-stinks/
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John and my beloved step-mother would have made a fine pair. She didn’t hate squirrels but despised geese and swans. She had a ‘big bird whip’ she designed and my father crafted specifically for the purpose of chasing them out of the yard and off the deck. I wish I had been quick enough just once with the camera to capture her with this terrible device, my siblings and I would laugh and laugh at her running after the birds each night.
Poor Sorta Lucky! You do know those tails are more than just fluff? Now you will need to provide for his care forever and ever amen.
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Your step-mother must have been a sight! I hope she didn’t go after Big Bird with her ‘big bird whip’ — the GOP has done that well enough!
Yes, I knew it’s wasn’t a decorative tail. You can actually see a little stump on Sorta Lucky’s tail where it was bitten off and healed.
And I’m pretty sure we were on the hook for Sorta Lucky back when he was still just plain ole “Lucky” — those squirrels are always looking for their entitlements!
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Squirrels are so overpopulated here that they are a non-event that you plan for. You know….food for the birds…food for the squirrels. Even our cats don’t chase them anymore. I did recently move the feeders and so far (3 months but who’s counting?) and they haven’t been able to get on the feeder. I know they will. They always do. If nothing else, they will wait until the tree grows a little farther over and shazzam! it’s dinnertime again.
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They are amazing. And like your cat, our dog soon got bored with them. (There aren’t many near where we lived in Switz/France, so they were quite a novelty at first.)
And yes, they will figure it out. We have one of those Droll Yankee Squirrel flipper feeders:
But they learned that if they spun it, the seed fell onto the ground. So they would have a ride and then eat their meal after the carnival!
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I never really minded squirrels very much until one jumped into my lap last summer. Now I find myself very wary when I hear them twittering nearby as I lay in my hammock.
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Perhaps you are just too foxy, Paprika
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It’s a curse I must bear.
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Ooh. He may look cute but I can see his cold and dead beady little eyes. Poor Mr. Fox.
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Poor Mr. Fox is probably blogging about it now. “Close Encounters with the Squirrelly Kind”
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My 83 year old Mom is constantly at war with the squirrels who have managed to get into every “squirrel proof” feeder she buys. For a while she had them beat by spraying vegetable oil on one of those half circle “squirrel baffle” things that hangs over the feeder. They’d jump on, slide off and crash and Mom would laugh like a maniac. Then they learned how to jump under the baffle…….You gotta admire the ingenuity!
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I absolutely agree. Besides, you can’t beat them.
One of my aunts had the same crusade for years and years. Then one day she was out in her yard eating Hershey’s Almond Kisses and dropped one. She later saw a squirrel on his hind legs unwrapping and eating the candy. She loved it, and gave the squirrels a few kisses every day from then on.
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Squirrels were cute and benign until one mama squirrel moved herself and her babies into our attic years ago. Now, they’re rodents, destructive icky rodents. And for goodness sake, why can’t they figure out how to get out of the street when cars are coming?!
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We got some in our attic winter before last too, actually. We did manage to get rid of them before they damaged anything (they are as you probably know, fond of chewing wires). Well, unless chewing a hole in the ceiling of our bedroom is considered damage.
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Yeah, that counts.
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Well now …. at least it doesn’t seem that you are getting the squirrels who are aliens! .. BTW, maybe John out to build an obstacle course for them!
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Or maybe all squirrels are really aliens. We may never know.
But I don’t think John is likely to build an obstacle course. He’s not much of a handyman when he doesn’t have to be.
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If he’s anything like the squirrels around my house, he probably scolded the fox to death.
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You’re probably right.
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Hahaha….”sorta lucky” I’m crying! What the hell went down in those hedges? We may never know….
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What happens in the hedges, stays in the hedges. Although I’m not sure that the other half of Lucky’s tail stayed there.
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Hahahahaha! I was laughing out loud at the missing tail…evil I know, but so funny.
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I doubt the fox got more than a bit of flossing out of the tail! But we haven’t seen him since.
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