Comments on: Son of Scratchy

By: Villager

Villager — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 20:14:24 +0000

I have had squirrel years ago,and I think duck would be a good comparison. Pretty tasty baked with a little gravy on them, though I guess Meredith’s cat likes them a bit rarer! Thanks for stopping by.

By: The Idiot Gardener

The Idiot Gardener — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 15:07:29 +0000

We have a lack of squirrels over here! There has become such a demand for them from restaurants, that the greys are pretty much dead when they venture into the cold light of day. The reds are obviously are rare as hen’s teeth.

The Red Squirrel Preservation Society (I think that’s what they’re called) had a guy that went around culling the greys. I read an interview with him and he said a few years ago he was culling a thousand a day; now he’s down to around 100 a week.

Never tasted one yet, but I’m told they’re a bit like duck. Apparently they’re not too heavy on the meat either!

By: Meredith

Meredith — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 03:53:37 +0000

Rats with good PR, LOL. I admit to getting a little frustrated when the squirrels bother my bird feeder (especially as they broke the one that used to attach to the kitchen window, leaping on it from a distance until it gave in December). But as long as they don’t go for the tomatoes, I’ll be fine. My sister and brother-in-law had this problem with the tomatoes two years ago, and it was just heart-breaking. One huge, nasty bite out of every tomato on a plant, I saw it with my own eyes, and it got so bad they couldn’t let any fruit vine ripen.

But I suspect the reason we are generally spared is that we have two cats: one who is lazy and fat and lays around the garden paths looking dark and threatening, and the other who is a darned good predator and has already killed two squirrels this year (that we know of, these were the “gift” presentations on the front porch).

Loved picturing your Mr. MacGregor act. Your dad sounds like a softhearted soul.

By: Thomas

Thomas — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 00:58:24 +0000

That’s actually a really interesting looking squirrel. They aren’t so orange where we are.

“Rats with good PR”…that’s really funny…I like that just as much as “Rats with cuter outfits.”

I didn’t know that squirrels have a taste for tomatoes. Yikes.

By: Villager

Villager — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 21:38:37 +0000

Tenacity and stubborness? Sounds like I may be part squirrel! I do keep water available in summer, which I think is what they’re after when they get into tomatoes.

Of course I DID take time to grab my camera before I shooed this one off!

By: Deborah Elliott

Deborah Elliott — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 21:36:17 +0000

I still remember the time, as a teenager, I saw a squirrel climbing a telephone pole with a big red tomato in its mouth! We are surrounded by woods and have plenty of squirrels. But not as many as we use to. We now have resident hawks who keep the squirrel population thinned. I also put my vegetable and herb gardens close to the fenced-in dog lot. Lily, our collie mix, will bark at most critters that get too close.