…was the question to which I had a fraction of a secon to answer. Opted not to kill the poor inocent bugger who just happened to run accross the street where I was driving with bunch of models on a board on the front seat as we were moving to a new house last week. It was late in the afternoon, not much trafic and I was driving slowly to minimize the bumps and road vibrations. I knew that moving models is not about moving them undamaged but moving them with the least ammount of damage. So the models slid from the passanger seat on the floor and looked like this
At first I was mortified and thought that the casualty count will be huge and a total loss of vehicles and equipment. To my big surprise, it wasn’t that bad. The BT-7 was undamaged and so was the Kubelwagen. The Soviet truck (upper left) was badly damaged but very much repairable, an SAS jeep lost a machinegun and so did the Italian tank. A german officer lost his arm, but that is what you get when you always point your finger somewhere [:)]. The Land Rover also lost few small pieces and I was surprised to see that its rear view mirrors were intact. All in all, not bad and a happy live squirel.
The rest of the transport went quite well, minor or no dammage. And I am moving into a new and improved modeling cave which will take few weeks to set up as there are boxes everywhere.
Well, you did the rigfht thing. The models can be pieced back together. I never drive with anything on the front seat now, i always put them in the foot well. Driving round here its like weaving through a minefield with all the animals crossing the road.
That usually happens to me when I have a small load of groceries in the front seat. I can almost tell now when a squirrel is about to go on a “suicide run”. Happened to me just day before yesterday. I’m assuming that squirrels are suffering from some sort of mental stress from living in trees and eating nuts. I know it would get to me!
Yep, agree that you did the right thing. That’s good karma on you man.
We have no squirrels here, but like Bish I always use the footwell or forward part of the trunk to move models. And I am really glad there are no deer or moose crossing Kamehameha or Kalanialaole (say that ten times fast!) Highway.
Must be an international thing. The Mrs had a squirrel run out in front of her today. She thinks it missed the wheels as there was no smudge left on the road.
She nearly took out a hare as well, must have been the day for close encounters.
Glad ya didn’t sqiush the errant little rodent, maybe he was late for work, ya know doing squirrel things.
Atleast your near disaster was an act of nature. My best friend has a habit of dislodging landing gear from my aircraft when I ride with him. He claims muscle spasms…he’s pushing 80…I think he just gets a kick out messing up my 48th and bigger planes.
The squirrel is lower on the food chain and priority ladder. Besides, as GMorrison says, the bigger danger is people who swerve to avoid something as small and insignificant as a squirrel and getting into a more dangerous situation.
Yup, I learned my lesson and the following transports were with the models on the floor. Much better. As for swerving, didn’t even think of it, had no time to think of it.
My dad drives a school bus, and in his driver training, he is taught to not swerve for anything smaller than a deer…obviously a school bus full of kids is more precious than a bunch of models, but still, that car, making evasive maneuvers to avoid a squirrel creates a much bigger danger.
well you did the right thing I live in the sticks down here where the internet is slow…and so are the gators but pythons crossing the road buzzard gotta eat.
