I decided to put it over there for a few reasons. First, comments can be much longer over there, so you can go into much more detail. Second, the threading is much better so if you want to comment on someone else’s comment it’s easier to keep things straight. Third, I can control access if necessary. Finally, I can set up better polling to build a questionnaire.
The downside is that things will work best only if you go through the short sign-up process. In the end, though, I think if the discussion grows at all it will just plain be more fun over there.
Once again, here’s the link. To add your own review, click “New Topic”. You’ll get the hang of it.
If you would rather send your feedback another way, that’s fine too. Jesse did a major markup on a previous version and I can’t tell you how helpful it was. Please, though, be careful of spoilers if you comment here. Even if you saw through the surprises long before they happened (and I hope you tell me if you did), I don’t want to ruin it for people who aren’t as bright as you.
Finally, if you missed the boat last time around and would like to read the latest (somewhat improved) version, drop me a line and I’ll send it to you.
Oh, and thanks! I’m really looking forward to hearing both the good and the bad.
There is a squirrel looking in the window at me. Either he’s plotting my demise or he’s taken by the sound of Ella Fitzgerald singing I’ve Got You Under My Skin.
Perhaps he’s plotting your demise and thinking he’s hearing Under My Thumb.
Since when did Los Alamos have squirrels? Coyotes and bears, sure. Chipmonks maybe.
I’m pretty sure it was a ground squirrel, but it could have been a chipmunk. I must admit I’m not too confident I could tell them apart. I don’t think a coyote could have climbed up to the window. Bears prefer Roch ‘n’ Roll and Ranier Beer.
Hey! there’s a song playing :-) The willowz
I think I’ve eaten squirl before tastes like chicken
Mmmm… squirrel.
I need to think of a new poll, now, don’t I?
Oh, yes, there are squirrels in Los Alamos. They weren’t all that common when we were growing up, but I’ve seen them often on return trips. They can get pretty big and mean-looking, too.
Mmmm Squirrel, the other other white meat.
Squirrels are just fuzzy-tailed rats with a good PR agent!
New Poll: Favorite Squirrell dishes?
THE ONLY GOOD SQUIRREL IS A FRIED SQUIRREL
For the record, I saw a bushy-tailed American Gray Squirrel today. The boys gave chase, but by the time they figured out what was going on, it was far too late.
Didn’t one of the Arkansas people soot at the squirrels with a BB-gun when they got in her fruit tree?
Did I say “soot the quirrels”? I meant Shoot the squirrels”.
Yes, Munzy got one of the squirrels that was raiding her pear tree — hit it in the eye with her BB gun. She gave Jerry the tail.
(For those outside the family, Munzy was our grandmother, a strong-willed lady, who developed into a really fierce little old lady who never put up with any nonsense from anyone. To her, squirrels were “bushy-tailed rats,” and she showed them no mercy.)
Perhaps we are now getting to the roots of the unpleasantness with the squirrels: a good, old-fashioned, Arkansas fued.
True story: colleague of mine, back in VA, meets a guy at a party. He’s a rocket scientist (for real), bright, plain-spoken, solid rural-american stock, and – perhaps tellingly – comes from West Virginia. She goes to his house for the first time:
“What’s this?, she says.
“That’s the first squirrel I ever shot, when I was a lad. I had it stuffed,” He replies.
So there ya go. Any of you single and looking lasses out there in muddled ramblings land can maybe find herself a manly squirrel hunter.
I think it should be Jerry’s next pick-up line. I’m sure it would’ve worked on Nicole
Awh, man! I was always too young to shoot at squirrels! Someday, someday them Arkansas Blue Backs r gonna pay!
People, read the book (if it’s still available) follow the link (harder than reading the book) and let Jerry know. He is sentences away from…a dream! Damn, all sappy n shit. Forgetta bowdit. It’s that close.
I will still be happy to send copies of the book to interested pre-readers.
That rocket scientist wouldn’t happen to have been Homer Hickham, would he?
And in other squirrel news …
AP – VANCOUVER, Wash. – A hungry squirrel has been blamed for a power outage that snarled rush-hour traffic in this city north of Portland, Ore.
Electricity was cut for about an hour Wednesday morning to about 5,145 residential and business customers after the rodent caused a short circuit at a substation.
The outage also affected traffic lights, including one busy intersection, where westbound traffic was backed up for about a mile, Washington State Patrol Trooper Garvin March said.
A substation worker found the remains of a squirrel with a walnut lying nearby, Clark Public Utilities spokesman Mick Shutt said.
“They just get into electrical equipment and in some fashion short the thing out,” Shutt said. “They conduct electricity, and that’s it.”
Reminds me of the electrocution in the hardware store scene in the Newberry Award winning book, The Squirrels of NIMH.