Post – July 11, 2001

My friend Kevin likes to watch squirrels. I was on my daily constitutional this morning, and passed over a sort of double driveway shared by two adjacent houses. There were about 10 enormous squirrels rushing hither and yon around the driveway, and chattering in that unnerving chirping noise they have when they are, I suppose, talking to each other. I was momentarily spooked. And it occurred to me, a squirrel is pretty much a rat with a big fuzzy tail. That big fuzzy tail gets them thought of as “cute,” rather than the rat’s “disgusting, gross, scary” rep. If the driveway had been filled up with rats, I think I (and many other sane people) would have at least crossed the street. That fuzzy tail has gotten the squirrel pretty far.