The gray squirrel. Sciurus carolinensis. They're really everywhere, aren't they? Except in New Zealand. It's taken us a few months, but we've slowly realized there are no squirrels here. Not one!
Back in the United States, squirrels are such a ubiquitous sight, occupying every tree, overtaking parks, nesting in roofs, running along telephone lines. Everywhere. And they're just vertically-inclined rats really, aren't they? And then a week or so ago, I finally said to Emeline, "Have you seen a squirrel lately?"
She hadn't. Neither have I. Squirrels.
So we checked online and, sure enough, they're probably everywhere else in the world but here. In fact, they're probably on the moon, running lightly along the rims of craters, looking for nuts. Now that we haven't seen a squirrel for nearly three months, I think I actually miss them. On a lighter note, we saw a New Zealand possum tonight. It ran across the road in front of us, with it's baby clinging tightly to it's back, it's bushy tail sticking right up in the air. So we can add a new equation to all the others that we use to measure our move to a new hemisphere: We lost gray squirrels, but we gained common brushtail possums.
Okay, okay ... I know there are possums in the US too, but they're not as cuddly as the ones here. Compare for yourselves. Here's a New Zealand possum, chewing on an apple and waiting for a hug.
And here's an American possum, hungry for human blood, an agent for all that is evil. (ck)
Back in the United States, squirrels are such a ubiquitous sight, occupying every tree, overtaking parks, nesting in roofs, running along telephone lines. Everywhere. And they're just vertically-inclined rats really, aren't they? And then a week or so ago, I finally said to Emeline, "Have you seen a squirrel lately?"
She hadn't. Neither have I. Squirrels.
So we checked online and, sure enough, they're probably everywhere else in the world but here. In fact, they're probably on the moon, running lightly along the rims of craters, looking for nuts. Now that we haven't seen a squirrel for nearly three months, I think I actually miss them. On a lighter note, we saw a New Zealand possum tonight. It ran across the road in front of us, with it's baby clinging tightly to it's back, it's bushy tail sticking right up in the air. So we can add a new equation to all the others that we use to measure our move to a new hemisphere: We lost gray squirrels, but we gained common brushtail possums.
Okay, okay ... I know there are possums in the US too, but they're not as cuddly as the ones here. Compare for yourselves. Here's a New Zealand possum, chewing on an apple and waiting for a hug.
And here's an American possum, hungry for human blood, an agent for all that is evil. (ck)
2 comments:
a blog is an interesting thing. it definitely shows that some people have diverse interests and potentially too much time on their hands. :-)
this post may be evidence of both things.
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