Hokey smoke!

This blog post may be inappropriate for younger or more sensitive readers.

Near the end of my ride home from work yesterday, I was coasting downhill when a squirrel shot out onto the bike path from the bushes off to the right. He hesitated for a split second, and I thought I’d be able to get past him on the left. But as I was passing him, he panicked and jumped toward me instead of back into the bushes. I felt a bump and knew I’d run over some part of him. When I looked back and saw him running away, I figured whatever had happened wasn’t serious and forgot about it.

Until this morning, when I pedaled past that spot and saw this in the middle of the path:

Yes, it’s 4-5 inches of squirrel tail, sitting right where my back tire squeezed it off the poor guy. No, I’m not offering a higher-resolution version of the photo.

So it was a somber ride in to work this morning. The squirrels and rabbits I passed on my route looked at me reproachfully.

But they kept their distance.