Conference turris::womannotes-v1

    
    Maybe it was a belligerent male squirrel letting all the
    other male squirrels know that the Square is *his* territory
    (along with any F squirrels therein). Or maybe the squirrel
    was defending its family from a cat... only a guess.
    
    Wheres Marty Stouffer when you need him?

    I've heard that frequently from the squirrels around the house -
    sometimes a warning of an approaching cat, or a distress cry when
    they're separated from their mates. I spooked one away from his
    nest at dusk one evening and he cried 'til I went away and let
    him sneak in (I watched from a window).    

    Maybe humans aren't the only things that feel lost and alone in 
    the middle of the often-impersonal hustle and bustle of the city...
    
    -Jody
    

    Squirrels, especially males, are territorial.  One male squirrel
    may nip at another in a most sensitive spot (you get my drift) for
    males, and it can cause severe discomfort and even a small amount
    of bleeding for the short term.  Territorialism is greatest in the
    early spring when the males are establishing there "castles", selected
    because of 1) the present female squirrel visitations or 2) the
    possibility of attracting females because of the good nesting
    environment.  Could be this one was a victim of another's instinct.
                                 
    (We had a squirrel battle in our back yard one year that used to
    send our dog into a tizzy because he thought he heard cats, too!
    Our vet explained this "squirrely behavior" to us...)

    	If a squirrel screaming in pain sounds anything like the noise
    	a cat can make when it is in extreme pain, it's no wonder you
    	found it so disturbing.
    
    	About 6 years ago, my cat had an illness that caused him severe
    	abdominal pain (enough to have him screaming by the time I got
    	home from work.)  It was the worst sound I've ever heard (except
    	for the sound of a small child in pain.)
    
    	His cry brought me to tears (especially knowing that there was
    	nothing I could say to make him feel better and no way to ask
    	him where it hurt.)  We rushed him to an animal hospital instead
    	(and he is now 10 years old and quite healthy.)
    
    	If the squirrel was eating, the injury (or whatever) was probably
    	not life-threatening.  When my cat was sick, all it took was
    	"being sniffed" by our other cat to send him into torrents of
    	agonizing screams.  He wouldn't have considered eating or drinking
    	anything in that condition.

    Re: .0 --
    
    The squirrels in our yard back yard (we have a quarter-acre lot, about
    half treed) do this every year when the snow starts to go away and the
    days get longer -- it's a very distressing sound but it seems to be
    related to mating or territory rather than pain or loss. 
    
    --bonnie

    I'm really glad for the reassurance, guys...that animal had me worried!
    
    What's really hysterical is that there were always dozens of squirrels
    living around the house back home, and later on the campus the same,
    and I positively cannot remember *ever* hearing anything of the
    like.  Weird.
    
    						=maggie

    
    Movie idea of the week: Revenge of the Killer Squirrels...

    re: .8
    
    I *know* I shouldn't do this. . .
    
    but. . .
    
    Ooooo, yeah.  Like, one of them lures hapless victims (why don't
    victims ever have any hap?) by sounding like injured, cute little
    kittens, then all their vengeful squirrel buddies whomp said victims
    to death with radioactive acorns.  And that's only fair 'cos it
    was humankind's tampering with nature which resulted in the radio-
    active acorns in the first place (and they in turn caused the 
    mutation which a) gives the killer-squirrels their intelligence
    and b) let's them howl like kittens.  
    
    And for victims we should have some irresponsible teenagers (played 
    by people in their 30's) who lied to their parents and went out to
    Squirrel Woods to neck instead of going to the library to study
    like they said.  The female teenagers should get iced when they go
    for the obligatory nude swim in Squirrel Pond (after drinking 
    and doing "it") and the male teenagers should have cute faces, nice
    buns and pass out (after drinking and doing "it").  They (the "boys")
    will then wake up and tell the fat, deceitful head of the Chamber
    of Commerce that it wasn't a boating accident, but this very pompous
    money-grubber won't believe it (word of such a thing could spoil
    the summer tourist trade).  Justice will be served tho' as this
    fool gets his when he tries to kill the good-kid teenagers who
    were going to blow the whistle; he chases them (on their way home
    from the library) into Squirrel Park.  They come out, but he doesn't.
    
    Cecil B. DeMallett
    

    Re: .9
    
    "Hap" means "fortune" or "chance" -- not in the sense of fate but
    in the sense of a random happening, a coincidence perhaps, that's
    good for you, makes you happy.  (Notice that the previous explanation
    includes three words derived from "hap": "perhaps" meaning "by chance".
    You can probably figure out the other two by yourselves.
    
    So if the victim had any hap, he or she wouldn't be there in the
    first place.  Sort of a self-selecting sample.
    
    --bonnie
    
    p.s. I loved it!  It will be a blockbuster!  Can I play the Jamie
    Lee Curtis part?  I have brown hair!
    

    re.0, re.9 &.10 Now, don't you wish you'd called the Audubon
    society instead ?  :-)

    <--(.11)
    
    One of the things I love most about our community, Dana.  We have
    positively got some of the craziest, most creative people in the
    world!
    
    						=maggie

    re:.10
    
    Now, Bonnie, admit it. You only want the Jamie Lee Curtis part
    because (a) she's the only one who doesn't have to do the
    obligatory nude scene, and thus (b) is the only one who makes
    it out of the movie alive.
    
    --- jerry

    re: .13
    
    No, I want the Jamie Lee Curtis part because I am trying to
    debug a Fortran program and I would welcome a few excuses to
    scream the roof down!
    
    --bonnie

    Hmmm, maybe that's what the squirrel was expressing:
    !@#$%^&*() FORTRAN!
    
    :-)  :-)  :-)  :-)  :-)

    
    They were filming a Japanese monster thriller. Sort of
    a 'Rodan' of the Square.

   Re: .16
    
    >        They were filming a Japanese monster thriller. Sort of
    >    a 'Rodan' of the Square.
          
    If it were about the squirrel, shouldn't it be "Rodent" of the square?
    
    :-)  :-)
    
    Dave