Squirrel obstacle course

[budafist]

I wish we had squirrels in New Zealand. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZBzIJF6pNg)

[Red Kittie Kat]

hehe .. too cute :D

[frankster]

Those squirrel obstacle courses were always on tv in the UK when I was about 8 years old. The TV shows "Tomorrow's world" and "Blue peter" seemed to have a fettish for them for a year or so. It's weird that they are popping up places again recently.

[Sneaky Muffin]

hehe, i remember that, think it was an advert on uk tv, can't remember what for though...

aha, google has the answer! It was for Carling black label lager, just called Carling now though

[Mynock]

No tree rats in NZ? What do you have? Sugar gliders?

[Virgo Nightingale]

No squirrels buda? That's shocking! They're everywhere here. I'll ship you a few.

[tuliptree]

When I was in college we had squirrels nesting in the attic of the house we rented. I think they're really cute so it didn't bother me until one day when one fell through the ceiling into our living room and freaked out and was bouncing off the walls to get out. Try telling a panicked squirrel where the exit sign is! They also started chewing everything in the attic and our landlord had to have the house rewired. I ended up doing a series of watercolors of the torn up walls for one of my painting projects though, so all was well in the end. Plus we talked the landlord into having the squirrels humanely trapped and released, too (unless he was pretending and sent someone with a cage and they didn't release them :o ) . . . I'm a sucker for rodents.

[budafist]

We have possums which we are trying to destroy because they eat our native trees. No squirrels though. Have you posted the squirrels yet Virgo?

[cornfed]

We have possums and squirrels and armadillos and nutria rats! They're all gross if you ask me!

[budafist]

I think they tried to make possum eating fashionable to help cull the population here.

They're keen on munching squirrels over in London these days. (http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=1500945&objectid=10509581)

Simpson likens the taste to wild boar. Ridley thinks it is more a cross between duck and lamb. "It's moist and sweet because, basically, its diet has been berries and nuts," he said.

I'd give that a whirl.

[Tea]

Yea...squirrel hunting is sort of the beginning level of hunting here. Master that and it's right to the big time - deer. We have an abundant supply of both.

I don't hunt by the way.

[budafist]

I don't hunt either, but I do eat meat.

[urstwile]

Wow, that video reminded me of this animal show they do at Seaworld, I forget what it's called. They have all these rescued animals (no squirrels, however, that I recall), doing all kinds of amazing obstacle course stuff. It's a pretty cute show.

[D-Frag]

haha, this part is great...

"Eat a grey and save a red. That's the message."

I chuckle at the thought of a person in NZ sounding like a redneck! Will it be the other way around once all the grey's are gone?

[budafist]

haha, this part is great...

I chuckle at the thought of a person in NZ sounding like a redneck! Will it be the other way around once all the grey's are gone?

We call our rednecks bogans here. Well, they're not exactly the same but kind of. I mean, if have an American redneck joke, you can make the same joke of bogans.

[Riefnu]

"If your front porch collapses and more than three dogs are killed, You might be a redneck."

" If you go to family reunions just to pick up dates, You might be a redneck."

"It you think hitting a deer at 60 miles an hour with your pick up truck is 'Fast Food', You might be a redneck."

"If you think Possum is the 'other white meat', you might be a redneck."

-Jeff Foxworthy, comedian, tv star, redneck




My dad used to squirrel hunt, and he deer hunts. One day squirrel season was during deer season so he'd thought he'd try to shoot a squirrel while hunting deer....

Squirrel flakes anyone?



Btw, he doesn't trophy shoot. He shoots a deer, takes it home, and eats it. Don't open our freezer if you liked the movie bambi a LOT.

[Red Kittie Kat]

I liked Bambi and I like Venison :D

[Broacher]

Mmm... Bambi-venison.

It brings up the whole field of strange logos where the happy, jolly animals being marketed actively promotes potential carnivors with how tasty they are, once killed, gutted, chopped into bits, and roasted over hot coals. We are a very strange species indeed.

I've even seen, in some rare logo cases, portrayals of the animals self-carving themselves (auto-mutilation?) in the effort to assure the market that this is indeed their one and only desire.

Animal masochism as a communications strategy? Doesn't really work well with me, a life-long carnivore who prefers to live in the juicier, tastier world of willful-denial when it comes to the truth about what goes into my mouth. But that whole 'animal excited to be eaten' idea seems to be centered much more in the 1950's ethos than anywhere else where it wasn't enough to simply drink milk, unless it was from a contented cow.

[createdirector]

I think the squirrel is a genius. :) Very cute. Although the squirrels that were on my college campus in FL used to almost chase you for food because they were so used to being fed by and around humans. Needless to say it made eating outside interesting there.

[urstwile]

Mmm... Bambi-venison.

It brings up the whole field of strange logos where the happy, jolly animals being marketed actively promotes potential carnivors with how tasty they are, once killed, gutted, chopped into bits, and roasted over hot coals. We are a very strange species indeed.

I've even seen, in some rare logo cases, portrayals of the animals self-carving themselves (auto-mutilation?) in the effort to assure the market that this is indeed their one and only desire.

Animal masochism as a communications strategy? Doesn't really work well with me, a life-long carnivore who prefers to live in the juicier, tastier world of willful-denial when it comes to the truth about what goes into my mouth. But that whole 'animal excited to be eaten' idea seems to be centered much more in the 1950's ethos than anywhere else where it wasn't enough to simply drink milk, unless it was from a contented cow.

I've always been confused by this strategy as well. As a kid, I really didn't get why Charlie was so hot and bothered to get caught by Starkist.

[Red Kittie Kat]

lol that is a great example of that Urst. I don't think any creature looks forward to being killed.

Now all I can think of is Happy Cows give Happy Cheese :p

[urstwile]

Foster Farms chickens always confused me too. I just don't get the whole "animals offering themselves up as desirable for food" concept. It almost seems Druidic somehow. Unless it's just one more way to get us to think that animals are just as happy as punch to serve us in any way they can.

Which of course now makes me think of the Twilight Zone episode "To Serve Man".

[garricks]

I've always been confused by this strategy as well. As a kid, I really didn't get why Charlie was so hot and bothered to get caught by Starkist.

I don't think any creature looks forward to being killed.

Also remembering "The Restaurant at the End of the Universe." My copy isn't handy, but remember the cow(?) that was rolled up tableside like a lobster tank, so you could choose what cut of meat to have? The cow was very polite and amenable to being eaten.

I think Charlie's complex was that he was constantly being told he wasn't good enough...lots of people would connect to that. But that was all in Madison Avenue's mind...

[urstwile]

Yeah, I guess that makes sense, garricks. I still think it's weird.