February 20, 2005
The Little Rockys
We used to have flying squirrels at the Bluffton cottage. Pretty prevalent, too. I thought they were bats at first, until I saw one climbing up a tree trunk. They're nocturnal, like bats, so the confusion was obvious. People domesticate flying squirrels, but I'm damned if I could figure out how to catch one.
The May River we were on isn't really a river at all. It has no headwaters. It is actually a huge tidal estuary. A giant finger of salt water that feeds into Calibogue Sound between Daufuskie Island and Hilton Head Island. With estuaries you get coves, and we had a killer one knifing through the property. Great exploring territory for kids. I once found a flying squirrel carcass in the cove at low tide, and took it to the Senator for his perusal. He remarked that I would catch rabies from a dead bat, and seemed otherwise uninterested in my find, which hurt me terribly. Didn't believe me when I said it was a flying squirrel, either.
He usually found that sort of thing interesting. I guess flying squirrels just weren't his bag.
We had those too. I think when one flew out of the attic and over my mother's head is the only time I ever heard my her cuss, well when I was a child anyway. (She unleashes present day.)
The stupid critters visited our upstairs cabinets and ate holes in our bathroom towels.
(Yeah I was raised in the woods...log home and all.)
Posted by: Key at February 21, 2005 1:09 AMWe have the little critters in Western Pennsyltucky, too. I potted one off the woodpecker feeder with my trusty Crossman 760 just last week. They get powerfully hungry in mid-February and throw caution to the wind.
They're just rats with nice tails, you know.
Posted by: steelheader at February 21, 2005 10:00 AM