I see we have uh, some pumpkins here
[Cliff Claven voice] It's a little-known fact that the, uh, pumpkin is actually a fruit. [twiddles paws]
They won't mind if I, uh, have a taste, there. [chews seeds]
Just a little gnawin' woooon't hurt 'em. Perfectly reasonable for this time of, uh year there.
Well, I might as well climb on in. [sighs]
Did you know the name pumpkin orginated from "pepon"—the uh, Greek word for "large melon"?
Hey! [echoes] even more seeds!
You know, roasted, they make a nice uh, snack, there.
[chews] You know, it's a little known fact that, uh, the largest pumpkin ever grown weighed 1,140 pounds.
Well, that about, does it there. [Looks around]
Nice work, sender-inner and T-shirt designer Tom ;)
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Squirrel! So cute!
How handy. No need for extra carving.
"Every picture tells a story."
A-1 composition, Meg! (and awesome photo series, Tom)
he doesnt look too slimy
Evil! Evil, I tell you! EVIL!
Apparently, you people never listen. Gaah...
AND you think, along with the Washington Post, that this list is "cool":
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/24/AR2006092400766.html?nav=most_emailed_emailafriend
Oh, the delusion!
Awww, what a little fatty! I love him!
He's a mischievous munchkin!
s'ok, J.Bo, calm down, take a few deep breaths and put the knife away.
"Gray squirrels are called "living fossils" because they haven't changed much in 37 million years."
Hey, land sharks!
Cute!! I want! He's gonna win the punkin carvin contest this year if it kills him!
Got to lofs da fat squirrels :) Bit worried about the "You know, roasted, they make a nice uh, snack, there" thing, though - I'm *hoping* that it's referring to roasted pumpkin seeds, and not [gulp] roasted squirrels...
GREY SQWRL!!! WHEEEE!!!
Looks like he's carving himself a Jack-o-lantern. I LOF JoLs.
*suddenly sober*
I want my mom's pumpkin sambhar. NOW.
*much profane grumbling*
Darn hostel food.
Awwww! The T-shirts are cute, too! Double-whammy!
So cute! I love these grey little fat ones I have so far only seen in the US. They are so fluffy and pompous and full of themselves... Before that I was only familiar with these slim and quick little fellas:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/wildfacts/factfiles/191.shtml
They are cute, too, but also somehow much more michievous and sometimes just plain cranky...
I lof the first pict, such a skwrl posture: "Erm, whaddo I do next, uh, I gotta always be doing something but *what*, what was it...?"
NO WAY! So what you're tellin me is that this Tom, if that is in fact his name, sat out on his front porch and watched this skwerl, who may or may not be "pure evil" as J. Bo would have us believe, gnaw through a pumpkin. How long does a thing like that take???
Jaypo, maybe he's saying, "Did I leave the gas on...?"
Oooh I wonder if the skwerly is going to toast those pumpkin seeds in the oven. Toasted pumpkin seeds with salt are very yummy!
Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Just Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
Um OK, how does this work now? Lessee...
[THREADJACK]
Just got an email from Denita TwoDragons, who is in the process of moving to the quirky new (very very very fine) house, and has very very very limited internet at the mo'. She wanted to say:
"...I was trying to get my daily CO fix but
I'm having some problems loading the page (slow POS dial-up
grumblegrumble...) and I can't comment at all! Can you just pass along the
word that I miss everyone and to please huff a kitten-belly for me...?
Thanks!
"We should be relatively finished by the end of this week, if not earlier,
I should be back to groaning at Aubrey's puns before the weekend... ;-) "
[/THREADJACK]
I'm guessing the first two photos were one sequence, and the next three were taken at a different time. Tom may not have had to sit there and wait for the whole hole on the back to be chewed out.
Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving to the other Canadian peeps out there. (Day off work, woo hoo!)
Janni, thanks for the link. Those European red squirrels are WAY cuter than the big ol' grey ones. EAR TUFTS!!!
how nice to be a plump little skrillo. you can have a tasty meal, and make yourself a handy shelter at the same time.
Subhangi--what is pumpkin sambhar? Can we make it in the US or does it have hard to find ingredients?
Squirrels rule! We have about 26 in our yard and they taunt the cats unmercifully.
i love the first pic...squirrel looks so humble and innocent, and THEN...destruction far and wide!
Mamadawn -
[threadjack]
Sambhar is kinda like a thicker version of Mulligatawny soup ... the base is veggies boiled in mashed lentils instead of just veggies boiled in water.
It's easy to make, tastes yum too. Lets see ... turmeric, lentils, veggie(s) of your choice, salt ... I'll have to ask my mom for the *exact* ingredients, though. ;)
(Oh, and you can even put in a boiled egg or two.)
[/threadjack]
The squirrel would have brought his wife but he couldn't keep her...'cause his name is Peter. And he's a pumpkin-eater. You know.
RE: New houses and skwerls
We also just moved into a new-to-us house. The back yard is about a foot overgrown, with oak and pecan trees. While I'm looking out over my meadow, half a dozen of the little spiffies leap up out of the grass and chatter at each other, then plunge back into the grass for more nuts.
Skwerls--they're like the dolphins of the midwestern backyard.
Eviiiil!!!!
PegofT - you stole my brain! I was looking at the photos humming that little ditty - eh voila ze comment appears.
that happens everytime we put a pumpkin outside.. which is why we don't do that anymore. It only takes like 2 days for the squirrels to bore right through the thing and start eating it from the inside out. It's funny as hell but when you spend $10 on a pumpkin you plan on having for a couple weeks.. it's a wee bit annoying :P
Ooooo, I just LOVE fat squirrels! I wants to squeeze that juicy baby!
Besides loving their cuteness, I also like that they seem to enjoy life an awful lot. The world can be a hard place on critters, but squirrels seem to have a great sense of fun despite the dangers life holds.
[threadjack]The *new* largest pumpkin ever grown weighs in at 1,502 lbs. Check the "Strange News" section of www.comcast.net
or just click/copy here:
http://www.comcast.net/news/strange/index.jsp?cat=STRANGE&fn=/2006/10/08/494635.html
[/threadjack]
Back on-topic, cutest use of Cliff-Clavin-voice *evar*! *smiles*
P.S. A few autumns ago, my parents put decorative corn shocks out on the front porch. The squirrels stripped the stalks bare in about three days. For the next several springs, my parents had corn growing all over the front and back yards ... which, surprisingly, my dad thought was pretty funny.
Thanks Aquila, I was going to post a link to that 1500+ pound punkin!
And peeps, did you see the baby pirate T-shirt on Tom's site? Arrrrrrgh.
[quote]Skwerls--they're like the dolphins of the midwestern backyard.[/quote]
Can I just say bwah! Teh funneh! LOL...
Squeaky McFluffersons can chew thru my punkins anytime.. if he can get past the dogs, that is.. can just picture my Crabby McDoggersons sticking their snouts in that leetle squeerel hole and snorting at him. Anyway.. love that first picture.. finger twiddling.. *snicker* cute! :)
Hey, no problem. I always want us to be updated and factually correct here on CO! But seriously, Tom *needs* a bebeh puppeh shirt on his site--
Just for balance's sake, since I'm one of those odd "cat people" *wink* (And I won't specify which kind...*smirks* ;) )
That's PAW-twiddling. Sorry.
And in the 2nd picture I would like to skritch his soft belly fur! :)
Know what this skwerl needs? A sweater. Obvy--since the punkins are out, the weather is getting brisk.
http://mfrost.typepad.com/cute_overload/2006/06/stop_the_insani.html
i thought it was just me that this happened too !!! i have never had this happen until the last 3 years !!!! are there more hungry squirrels ??????
I love how squirrels hold their paws to their chests. Like, moi? He made himself a little house and a snack. How clever!
FAT SKWERL!
Love the fact that the chew marks in the third photo look like a skwerl impact crater (minus the tail). Think skwerlikins here is trying to send us some kind of subliminal message (or maybe it's a gang tag indicating the skwerls' evil plot to take over the world).
Too cute. The herd of squirrels in my backyard (little fatsos from eating all the *bird* food) are having a regualr hootenanny with the bumper crop of walnuts this year. They *hid* one on top of my gas meter...
Actually, the largest pumpkin ever grown weighed 1502 pounds, beating the previous record by 38 lbs. It was on Good Morning America today.
Can you imagine how many squirrels would fit in THAT sucker?
Cute series, but sounds like this is a genuine problem for some. Would that hot pepper spray stuff (on the punkin) help prevent skwirls from eating punkins?
ceejoe, LOL! If they can't see it, no one can!
One time my accelerator kept getting stuck, totally unpredictable. Then my mechanic pulled out a hickory nut some Mr. Nutkins had hidden under the accelerator cables!
BTW, here's Tom taking picts of the pumpkin-eater so you can see how it was done:
http://www.harphampix.com/v2/document.php?id=4898
That thar be th cutest squirrel raid of a punkin I ever seed! Hold on,that thar's th only pics I have ever seed of a squrrel raidin'a punkin!
(miss spellings on purpose. country pumkin er uh country bumkin accent so I could play up the word seed...(s) )
Love the first picture where the squirrely looks like it's cleaning the dirt from its fingernails. The contrast between the European and American sqirrels amuses me.=}
Thanks D T D for passing along the collective "I miss everyone" message
& Theo for posting the EM message.
Happy moving...*See* ya soon back on C O.
You can read this & others messages back to you upon your return via archive.(but you know that...LOL!)
signed, one of the "everyone" 's!
Squirrels raid my pumpkins every year, and I don't mind. They do get awfully slimey after a while (the squirrels, not the pumpkins). I always save a couple inside the garage,for Jack o'lanterns.
This lil' feller's awfully cute!!
(Um, I meant I save PUMPKINS in the garage for Jack o' lanterns, not squirrels. Just to be clear.)