We've been having intermittent DSL problems here at Chateau Steelypips, which has led to much cursing of Verizon. The fact that their tech support department screwed up the first two service appointments, and repeatedly dropped calls after half an hour spent navigating their miserable phone tree and hold system didn't help any.
The repair guy finally showed up this morning, though, and found the source of the problem: Mice had built a nest in the terminal box on the pole, and squirrels had chewed on the wire going into the house.
And now, Her Majesty is being all smug. "You said I was barking at nothing," she says, "but I knew those squirrels were up to no good. You should give me stuff." Queen Emmy the Vigilant, that's her.
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tags: researchblogging.org, evolution, squirr
Olney, Illinois is famous for white squirrels. In 1943 there were 1000 of the little guys but by the '90s the population remained constant around 200. The town has implemented a rather strict set of laws to protect them.
Great photo.
Damn squirrels! They chewed through the telephone line leading to my apartment, back when I was living in Madison, Wisconsin. This was before DSL, so it mainly showed up as mysterious dropouts in the modem connection and odd bursts of static during phone conversations.
The thing you have to ask yourself is: what were the squirrels planning to do, once they'd finished cutting your phone line?
Awww....