Take out the squirrel - Darwinism. That squirrel self selected lol. Besides, after they cleaned out my greenhouse I have no love for squirrels.
I’ll throw in my .02 here. I was taught driving an 18 wheeler you never swerve for ANY animal including deer. (My score is 11 1/2, by the way.)
The truck will probably have to be towed but that’s preferable to rolling it on top of a car.
You see an animal, ya take your foot off the throttle and sound the horn for the deer sized, a dog/cat and smaller are on their own.
I remember the “swerve for nothing unless they can hire a lawyer” in driver’s ed. But reality is very different from classroom lessons.
I almost hit a cat once, where the little stinker waited until I was almost upon him. He dashed across the street, and what happened next was a little surreal. I only remember slamming on the brakes while watching the cat disappear from my LOS below the hood line. Then, as if watching someone else driving in slow motion, I saw my hands frantically working the steering wheel to effect a skid to attempt to alter the car’s path to keep the cat from getting crushed by the front left wheel. It actually worked, and I saw the cat right next to my car from the side window as I passed him. That little moron was bucking in excitement as he made it to the sidewalk on the opposite side of the road. He did the “all stop and rapid shoulder licks” that cats do when they get away with doing something really stupid. That must have cost him 2-1/2 lives minimum.
This all happened in a flash, and thank God my hands knew what to do, as I sure didn’t. To this day I cannot explain it. Maybe my car knew how to drive. But my car was a 1983 Accord, so no collision avoidance gizmos were on board.
Maybe driver’s ed should have a course where paper people and animals suddenly appear around blind corners to test the kill/no kill reflexes of the student. I’d totally fail that one.
I would flatten the squirrel.
A friend of mine’s mom was killed when she swerved to miss a dog and hit a tree.
Lesson learned.
Instinct just takes over,for better or worse.
Sorry,couldnt help but think that the back seat floor looks like the aftermath of the Falaise Pocket.
Do not confuse driving safely with a poor attitude twords transporting “valubles”. If the models were really important to you, why chance moving such fragile items loosely on the front seat? Too many? If you have 5 kids, do they all get a seat belt or only the ones that are convienent? I have shipped many fragile items all over the world, I took steps to package them as securly as I could every time. Yes, some items get damged, but that is usually the case for many of our models whether transported from one room to another or shipped around the world. The driver did the right thing, be as safe as possible, avoiding injury to anyone or any animal. With another move in the future, take a little more time and box up what you really want to be protected.
They’re tree rats. I don’t go out of my way to kill a squirrel, but I’m not changing course to avoid one, either.
A couple years ago, one dashed out in the street in front of me and he got clipped. I stopped at a stop sign at the end of the block, and I happened to see him in my rear view mirror. I watched as two other squirrels approached the injured one, they sniffed, and then they proceeded to tear him apart.
I’ve seen them eat their own young, too.
And they can strip a garden of vegetables in the space of a morning. They’re worse than people say humans are, more wasteful. I see them pluck a tomato, take a bite, then toss it away. They bite the blossoms off flowering plants.
They gnaw through phone and other cables. They get stuck in transformers and short them out.
Tree rats.
All you need to know is in the build logs. invest heavily in masking tape!
Builds
Shinden
http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/2/t/181765.aspx
KI-45 “Nick” build
http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/2/t/180550.aspx
ZM have another Nick out and it is a short nose variant. I think I am going to try a different way to get the same effect in a much tighter pattern
Lol. I always thought they were cute. Not anymore. Thanks for the education.
I prefer making “battle damage” by brush or sponge technique! Keep box on car floor, and make sure contents are packed with soft material which preclude models moving while driving. I had models packed overseas and shipped back to USA without major damage during a move - they were packed that well and survived overseas shipment.
I use those large clear plastic boxes with the lockable lids to transport my models to shows. I use an old towel to cover the box bottom which cushions contact and prevents models from shifting. You can find these boxes at Walmart or Target.
I wouldn’t have stopped.
When I was in grade 5, a classmate’s bus rear-ended a car because the lady slammed on her brakes to avoid a squirrel.
In grade 9, a senior and her boyfriend were driving down a gravel road back to school after lunch. She swerved to avoid a dog that darted out to chase the car and rolled her Jeep. She spent 2 months in hospital and missed the boyfriend’s funeral.
I will take my foot off the gas for an animal, but that’s it.
On a side squirrel note, a coworker had her new van written off because squirrels ate away at the wiring.
Not many squirrels around here, but we have a deer hit every couple of months. They come off the hill right behind the house. Working at the body shop across the highway from home does have it’s advantages. Have seen more rigs wrapped around a tree from swerving to miss one.
Closer to town it’s the 2 legged squirrels we have to watch out for.
You did what? Over a squirrel? Maybe a dog would be worth it. Maybe…
Thanks a lot, great guidance
From your avatar, it looks like you ride a bike. Given how suicidal squirrels try to take us down by throwing themselves at our front wheels and then instantly changing direction, for a second shot, I’m surprised you didn’t aim for him!
Seriously, though, you did the right thing. We had a tree fall in front of our house last week. There was a squirrel nest with 6 babies (eyes not yet open.) Posting the picture in pur community forum got a huge number of concerened responses. A neighbor brough them to a rehab facility. 5 of the 6 made it.
This is a sweeet story [:)]
This is starting to sound like George Costanza and the squirrels.
Hi; Oh Boy! the Animal crossing the road dilemna!
Here in New Braunfels ,Texas you learn to footwell stuff real quick. At dusk the downtown is possibly Deer infested and Squirrels Too ! Never mind the people, they are worse after a couple of Bar stops. At least the animals will freeze in the headlights .The humans just stumble in front of you. Even in broad daylight it is a challenge.
It’s called Tourist season.Remember we have SchlitterBahn and Wurstfest!! I think " Worst" fest brings out the stupidest types. Even the animals stay away! So when I go to the Train Museum I always footwell my models. This holds true for LEGO creations too!
But ya got mongoose…mongeese…mongooses…
I was over there, back in April. I managed to flatten 1 mongoose and 1 of those “wild” chickens. Both in Kailua. (side note…we were having breakfast in Kailua when that chopper went down…we heard the impact. Gut wrenching.)
Speaking of Kamehameha…I got thrown for a loop when the GPS said…
“Commie-HA-me-HA”!!! LOL
Back to squirrels…
This is my little buddy!
Stared feeding her from a distance, about a year ago…now she’ll knock on the door or jump up on the door handle and jiggle it…I can even pet her!