Squirrel Tales

This is Greg again.  I'm afraid I don't have the same caliber of post as Louise had yesterday (which got me misty-eyed thinking about, I have to admit).  My morning & afternoon/evening commute is more in-line with how our lives were, pre-Kai - going hard, focusing on the road/path ahead, pushing yourself, darting your eyes left & right to avoid any dangers while pedaling-pedaling-pedaling.

But even during these times, as the body chugs along and the mind wanders between home and school, past, present & future, I still notice some things that catch my attention and make me wonder "What the heck??"  Yesterday morning, those things were known to most of you as "squirrels".

Yes, you've all seen them (unless you were born & raised in Hawaii, in which you case you can substitute "mongooses" for the rest of the tale).  You may think they're cute, or you may think they're rats with bushy tails (the opinion one takes is usually in direct proportion to the number of bird feeders you own, I find).  You'd probably figure the Greater New England squirrel population is plenty busy right about now: stocking up before the winter hits us in full-fury; gathering nuts for their squirrel families;  maybe catching up on the latest strategies for conquering Old Man Jones' Model X9000T digital bird feeder; or gossiping about those damn oh-so-cute-and-perky chipmunks again.   So why, exactly, do they so often decide to put their lives at risk by flinging themselves across the bike path right in front of my wheel??   Is life in a tree really THAT bad???

Friday morning, I had 3 close calls.  3 in about 5 minutes.  All were within a foot of the front wheel, and one HAD to have gotten its tail brushed, it was so close.   After bike commuting for a couple months with very little squirrel excitement (other than some Spirit Squirrel sightings), this all seemed a bit odd.   Was the Squirrel Society initiating new members into the club by making them cut across busy thoroughfares?  Was this a way for young males to prove their Squirrel-hood?  Had the Spirit Squirrel (who I saw again later) demanded more nuts for His own stash, driving all the other squirrels into a religious fervor, ignoring all other dangers to satisfy Him?  Or, since the rain had knocked a lot of nuts to the ground, a squirrel version of a Going-Out-of-Business sale, were they so intent on finishing up their winter nut shopping that they simply weren't paying attention?  (Imagine how many squirrels would get whacked if they ever started using cell-phones...)  I'll never know, but it did make for some distracted pondering for the rest of my day.

Oh, my personal thoughts on riding over animals:  Most cyclists will tell you, especially on wet pavement, the only thing you can do when a small animal darts in front of you is simply stop pedaling, relax, and hope the 'bump' isn't so bad.  Then go back & take care of the evidence before a little kid sees the scene and curses you as a murderer for the rest of your life.  This may sound kinda cruel, but if I have to choose between Mr. Squirrel and Mr. Broken Collarbone, I choose Mr. Squirrel.  Sorry, buddy.