Saying Goodbye

Hurricane Sandy is on the way. I hang out with my special little friends for a while this afternoon. The wind is already starting to pick up, but otherwise things seem normal. They have no idea about what's coming that's about to shake their world. I comfort them in advance. And I feel sad.

A Squirrel's Halloween

 

Mmm... M&M's

 

yup...

demon squirrel

When witches go riding,
and black squirrels are seen,
and the moon laughs and whispers,
‘tis near Halloween.
~Author Unknown

 

 

Tricks AND Treats!

Sweetie's Secret

This is Sweetie

She has a name now. Getting named is not so much an honor as an indication of a relationship with me. I started paying attention to Sweetie when she wouldn't go through the fence to get a nut, no matter how hungry she was. I had called her an enchanted squirrel because she acted like she had a spell on her. Silly me! I had  failed to notice her secret!

New Baby on the Block

One of Spunky's babies that we haven't seen before (click to enlarge an image)

 

teething time

Hawk Sighting in PCV

 

Hawk gawking and a whole lot of squawking going on

It was a beautiful October Sunday today. The weather couldn't be nicer - sunny and cool - a great day for taking babies out for a walk. So Bernie Goetz decided to bring his new little black squirrel over to Peter Cooper Village. It was the baby squirrel's first outing and he stayed snuggled under Bernie's jacket for most of the time, but he was very calm.

Suddenly Bernie heard some squawking going on near the children's playground and thought it was some crows but could not see them. Five minutes later he saw what he thought was a sparrow hawk harassing a hawk. Then several minutes after that he saw the sparrow hawk come and sit right next to the hawk on the roof of  a building. Suddenly they took off -- together! It was than that he realized that they were both hawks -- a parent hawk was showing a baby hawk the ropes! He said it was amazing to watch them.

Baby hawk in Washington Heights

Baby hawks do look kind of like sparrows, don't they?

The Day After

On the day following "The End of the World", I walked around looking for changes to the environment.

The End of the World

It was a beautiful October morning, and there was not a single squirrel in sight. It seemed like they had all gone into hiding.

Enchanted Squirrel

Once upon a time there was a funny little squirrel who seemed to have a spell cast on her that

was preventing her from leaving the fenced area where I would always see her.

 

Big Bird and the Squirrelles

That is one big bird eyeing my stash
 

Union Square Squirrels

Who Shot Ya? PBS Shot Me!

 

We received this nice surprise from a photographer who recently stumbled upon this blog:

Ever since I was a boy I've always loved squirrels. For years though, I hadn't encountered them much. This past summer I made a point to head over to find where there were friendly squirrels. I found them to be quite friendly in Union Square and Madison Square Park on 23rd Street.

Afternoon of a Squirrel

A lovely autumn afternoon, perfect for roaming about, checking things out.

Bernie's Nursery

A peek inside the squirrel nursery reveals the latest arrivals: two adorable baby squirrels who have both lost their mothers. (click to enlarge)

Last Days of Summer

It all came to an end today, when the Autumn Equinox marked our passage into autumn. Equinox comes from Latin meaning "equal" "night", which is the time when night and day are equal in length.

 "The September equinox takes place whenever the sun is at zenith – straight overhead – at the Earth’s equator. This magical moment signals the beginning of autumn in the Northern Hemisphere and spring in the Southern Hemisphere. On the day of an equinox, the sun rises due east and sets due west all over the world"   http://earthsky.org/tonight/celebrate-the-september-22-equinox-and-the-first-quarter-moon

We've welcomed the breath of cool air we've had in these last couple of weeks after a long, hot summer, and we've  been enjoying these golden days that are great for taking long walks.

Stuyvesant Cove Park

The Hole Story

Hello World

The other day I had a delightful encounter with a new PCV resident who was very inquisitive about squirrels. He had recently moved in and was understandably fascinated by the squirrels. He asked a lot of questions, many on the technical side, some of which set me thinking. I found out that he was a mathemetician, which could  explain why he looked at things with  different eyes. Oh, and he was also ftom China.  One of the things he was most curious about was squirrel holes.

Prayer on 9/11

"Never again war,
adventure without return,
spiral of struggle and violence,
never this war in the Persian Gulf . . .
threat to your creatures in the sky, on earth and in the sea....
No war ever again."

Prayer of Pope John Paul II

Saturday Night Special

Bernard Goetz Gets a Special Visit on Saturday Night   
 
It was 8pm on  Saturday night. There was a knock at the door and Bernie Goetz opened it to find two uniformed policemen standing in the hall outside his apartment, one of them armed. They were from New York State's Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and they indicated that they wanted to come in. 

Here's the story of DEC's attempted home invasion, as told by Bernie Goetz in an exclusive to The New York Squirrel:

The Hottest Mom in America

has to be Spunky... 


Spunky's pregnant again!

From Russia with Love

 

A soldier of Belarus and his squirrel

I love the pictures of this adorable red squirrel.

 

"Daddy" is a bit of "all right" too!!!! lol

Solidarity

Eating Squirrel

WHAT!!? Somebody wants to eat me?

There's a piece in the Post this week about this Brooklynite who says he likes to barbecue  squirrels in his backyard. He is Steven Rinella, host of the Sportsman Channel’s show “MeatEater”, who according to the piece,  travels the world in pursuit of big game, and has a freezer full of it at home.  There are instructions on how to bag a squirrel, how to eat squirrel, and even Steven Rinella’s recipe for Lemon-Thyme Squirrel.

What about that little thing called the law? Well, “If someone wanted to experience some type of hunting lifestyle [here in NYC], they first have to make a study of the laws and decide what they’re comfortable with. Some [laws] are open to some degree of interpretation”.

Interestingly, Mr. Rinella draws the line at eating dogs, saying “We come to eating with baggage.” That's an understatement! This comment shows the kind of discrimination squirrels are subjected to by this dog-loving society we live in.

Read the entire story here, if you have the stomach for it. http://www.nypost.com/p/entertainment/food/urban_chow_boy_EKtwF01vNechm8IXYWXuRI/0

Last time I looked, 98 people liked it.

What's to like?

It's NUTS

Blue Moon

On August 31 we have the second Full Moon of the month. Sooo, you know what that means -- the moon on the 31st is indeed a "Blue Moon"!

Occupy Stuytown-PCV

 

On the Ground activists show how it's done!

The Risk

The Reward

Summer: A Retrospective

As the beastly hot summer slouches towards Labor Day, a few fond reminiscences are in order.  Even though it was largely a disappointment in these parts, with the endless heat waves of July and August, and the unsummerly bareness of the grounds that I've been complaining about, there were still some memorable moments.

Rescuing Baby Robins




A friend's cute baby robin story.  There are some great shots. Enjoy!

Stuyvesant Town Greenmarket

I've been doing a lot of complaining recently about the disappointments of summer at Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village. But summer there can still be beautiful, even magical at times.