The Happy Squirrel card

tmgrl2

When I was about 8 years old a friend and I decided to catch ourselves a squirrel. They are so cute! (we thought).

So we took a cardboard box, cut a hole in two sides, tied a nut to a string (I'm not kidding we really did this) and slipped it through both holes.

We had been calling this particular squirrel with little chittling noises and he seemed to be approaching us in a friendly fashion.

So, we wait on one side of the box.

The string with the nut is way out in front of the first hole. As the squirrel approached we s...l...o...w...l...y pulled the string into the first hole.

Voila! the squirrel followed the nut right into the box.

We quickly closed the flaps.

We had our cute happy little squirrel.

Immediately, however, the squirrel became frantic throwing itself at all sides, scratching wildly inside the box. We became terrified and wanted to let it go but were afraid it would attack.

Finally, we ran away from the box as fast as we could toward one of our homes. As we did we heard the scratching stop. The squirrel had pushed open a flap and was running like crazy away from us and up a tree.

I can't see or think of squirrels without remembering the great squirrel capturing event. I don't know what we thought would happen if we really did catch the squirrel. We were shocked it was tricked and then scared to death it was going to come flying out of the flap and attach itself to one of our faces, clawing and gnawing and biting like a rat.

What this means for the card? I don't know.
Beware of creatures that look innocuous and cute. They have the potential to scare the living daylights out of you even if they are just as frightened of you?

terri
 

HudsonGray

tmgrl2 do you know that college students go squirrel fishing now? Same sort of tactic, tie a nut to the end of a string & see how far you can reel them in. Extra points if you can get them off the ground. There's stuff online about it.

They're not the cute fluffy things you'd think they are, I agree! Lots of people call them tree rats.
 

tmgrl2

HudsonGray said:
tmgrl2 do you know that college students go squirrel fishing now? Same sort of tactic, tie a nut to the end of a string & see how far you can reel them in. Extra points if you can get them off the ground. There's stuff online about it.

They're not the cute fluffy things you'd think they are, I agree! Lots of people call them tree rats.

ROFLMAO...You mean we were ahead of the times??!

We were so embarrassed afterwards. First that we did it at all. Second, that the poor squirrel was more frightened than we were. I do think though, that, if trapped, one could prove quite dangerous to humans. Well, then, humans, if trapped can prove quite dangerous to animals and even each other.

So, alas, the Happy Squirrel dilemma moves forward for further discussion.

terri
 

Alissa

tmgrl2 said:
What this means for the card? I don't know.
Beware of creatures that look innocuous and cute. They have the potential to scare the living daylights out of you even if they are just as frightened of you?
I Love This~! :D :D

Long live the Happy Squirrel, and its debate. :smoker:
 

Ace

Ravenswing said:
Umbrae said:
The girl was Nell. And Dudley was more interested in his horse than in her...

No, NELL was more interested in his horse than in Dudley (watch the opening credits carefully...)
 

Maelin

I love this thread - I haven't laughed this hard in a long time.

As to Nell and Dudly - and the horse - Ace is right. Nell was clearly smitten with the horse - a plot point that as a Canadian, always made me somewhat suspicious - was this a snide comment about the manliness of our beloved RCMP? If Bullwinkle was a Moose, a good Canadian symbol ( yes it's an Elk on the Quarter, but work with me here) why is Rocky not a beaver? Why a squirrel and a flying squirrel at that - but note, as the lone intellect in the show, Rocky was most often a frustrated, long suffering squirrel - not a happy squirrel at all.

Perhaps we are taking the happy squirrel too literally, as in "blessed are the cheesemakers" perhaps the card is meant to be the archetype of all happy rodents, regardless of nationality, colour, or general cuteness and bushiness of tail.
 

rota

I love Bullwinkle, Canada, and squirrels.
 

OakDragon

This thread is really interesting. Did the Simpson episode come first or the card in someone's deck? How many decks have a Happy Squirrel card? I especially like the one in the Victoria Regina deck... I'm even more interested in that deck now!
 

OakDragon

I just bought a VR deck and it didn't come with a Happy Squirrel card! From the artist's website it looks like it's supposed to. I did get two different versions of the title card (or whatever you want to call it. The one with the about the deck info on it.). One has the Magician and one has the Queen of Coins (VR herself).

<pout>