Random's too tired to do more than wave at Sundry to pass the popcorn....

[lagilman]

Note to self: yes, Manhattan is a wonderful city for walking. That does not mean you have to walk it all in one day. (to be fair, it was only about 30 blocks [a few-three miles, total], all on the UES. And I stopped for a lovely brunch [mmm, brioche french toast with creme fraiche] with family at La Boite en Bois. Yum. But now my knees ache, and I don't want to see my walking shoes for at least 24 hours).

On the work front, drafted the post for paranormalromanceblog.com, and got 750 new words on HARD MAGIC. Sometimes it's not so much about the slog as the surprise attack. Bonnie managed to get yelled at by two different authority figures about two different things in less than 12 hours. She's such an overachiever....
--------------
Hey, question for you folk out beyond the Swamp Yankee lands: how many of you have ever seen a black squirrel? We were discussing them today, and I was surprised to discover that they seem to be a regional variant. For my money, they're much cuter than the gray squirrels even though, yes, I know it's just a color mutation.

EtA: from comments, it seems like they're a northern variation, spotted as far south as DC but not in Texas, etc...

Also: geeking for about seven or eight of you out there: new Portishead album!

Comments

[wolfsilveroak.livejournal.com]

There are none in the South. At least, nowhere I've lived.

My dad keeps threatening to send me some from Michigan. I tell him go for it, as I miss seeing them and the brown/red squirrels.

[chaoticmatter.livejournal.com]

We've got black squirrels here in Victoria, BC, but I believe only in the Beacon Hill area as they're an invasive species that was introduced to the Park along with peacocks and various other animals.

[ex-fashioni.livejournal.com]

When we lived in NE Ohio, there was a concentration of them in Kent, especially on the campus of Kent State U.

Arrogant little buggers—as if they knew they were sleek and lovely and juuuuust a little special.

[smoemeth.livejournal.com]

I've seen black squirrels on the Princeton campus. The joke was that they were the result of a lab experiment gone awry. :}

(And yes indeed, yay for new Portishead!! I can't wait to hear it.)

[lagilman]

hah, should have known you'd be another fan....

[lagilman]

hah, should have known you'd be another fan!

(btw, will be driving past on Friday afternoon, and then again on Sunday. Will someone be home either time?)

[smoemeth.livejournal.com]

woj reports the MP3s are now on our server waiting for me to listen tomorrow. :)

Both Friday afternoon and Sunday someone will be here, yes ...

[origamilady.livejournal.com]

I saw them quite a bit when I was at college in both Wisconsin (undergrad) and Cincinnati OH (Grad)

[signeh.livejournal.com]

I first saw black squirrels in Toronto and Stratford. Then they moved a bit south to Michigan, and I've seen them occasionally here in the Chicago area.

[butterflykiki.livejournal.com]

Brown brown brown ones here in Colorado. Nothing like a black one, although I *might* have seen some gray ones? *is terrible naturalist* But of black we have none.

[sleary.livejournal.com]

Never seen them in Texas.

[dsgood.livejournal.com]

Saw them when I lived in NYC. Only saw them in the Bronx; I'm told there's a lot of them around Fordham University.

Seen any coyotes yet?

Black squirrels

[rosenhaus.livejournal.com]

Saw my first one in Washington Square Park about 3 years ago.

Re: Black squirrels

[lagilman]

and did you do the wild doubletake? (a friend swears he thought it was a rat, first time he saw once bounce past)

[jmward14.livejournal.com]

Quite a few black squirrels range in Alexandria and Arlington, VA. I suspect they're doing so well because the wily gray squirrels of Capital Hill, the Mall and Tidal Basin have trained the government drones to feed on demand--and black squirrels aren't at all shy about demanding. :-)
In the good old days--before a certain invidious shrub turned my hometown into an armed camp--if you stood on the sidewalk anywhere around the Capitol and whispered "Hello" or "Pecans", every squirrel within a hundred yard radius would come running. They probably still do, but regular citizens can't get that close. :-P

[lagilman]

just so long as they're not Red squirrels...

[jmward14.livejournal.com]

No Reds...at least not east of Georgetown. A strange country is Georgetown--full of pinko diplomats and Jesuit-trained college students. One of my very favorite places. :-)

[fakefrenchie.livejournal.com]

I'm surprised they let black (anarachist) squirrels get close to the Shrub.

[jmward14.livejournal.com]

Arrrgh! Do you have any idea how hard it is NOT to make a really, really rude joke about the Secretary of State and her overbite here? :))

[leahbobet.livejournal.com]

Black squirrels are most of what we have in Toronto.

The ones on campus will mug you for your bagel.

[anisosynchronic.livejournal.com]

There's a local black squirrel variety around Palo Alto.

I can't recall having seen any in New England.
There are supposed to be flying squirrels around, but what I see generally are gray squirrels, including one that it and I met almost nose to nose two or three years ago--the oak trees had few acorns that year, and the squirrels were after anything they could find that seemed like a nut. I was collecting chestnuts under my Chinese chestnut tree, and the squirrel happened to be in the tree. It was coming down the truck as I was straightening up under the tree turning to the trunk. Both of us were very taken aback...

Last year there was a heavy crop of acorns on oak trees, and the t/r/e/e r/a/t/s squirrels ignored the chestnut tree.

[fakefrenchie.livejournal.com]

"She's such an overachiever.... "

Hey, I thought you said SHE wasn't YOU. *wink*

[mevennen.livejournal.com]

Only ever seen them in DC and other parts of the globe, but here it's wall-to-wall grey squirrels unless you live in Scotland or bits of Wales.

Portishead = always a good thing. They're from up the road but got out (no one in their right mind would want to live in Portishead).

[shui-long.livejournal.com]

no one in their right mind would want to live in Portishead

I probably ought to take exception to that, as my mother moved to a retirement apartment in Portishead a couple of years ago...

No, I wouldn't want to live there myself, but she seems happy enough.

[bigferret.livejournal.com]

It seems we have both in Wisconsin. I have grey ones at my place, but my cousins, who live 10 miles from me, have black.