In retrospect, it was perhaps unreasonable optimism...

Me: Honey, I'm 100 percent sure he's just resting...

Well, the other day, my husband and I pulled up to our house to parallel park. My husband, who was driving, pulled a little beyond our yard, so we were in front of the neighbor's lawn. Right as he was about to back up,  he said, "There's a dead squirrel in the neighbor's yard."

I looked over and saw the squirrel, lying flat on it's stomach, feet spread out, and said, "Oh no, it's not dead. It's just lying there."

My husband gives me the hairy eyeball, then honks the horn. The squirrel doesn't move. "It's dead," he said.

I shake my head. "Ella and I were at the park this summer and we saw a squirrel that looked exactly like that: Lying completely still on it's belly. As soon as we got close to it, it bolted and ran off."

Well, I got close to this squirrel, and it didn't move.  The squirrel was, in fact, dead and was in that position several hours later.

Unfortunately, I think we may have a power line problem, as the squirrel was directly beneath the powerline. And, we've seen at least three dead birds beneath this same powerline over the past six months. So, I'm thinking something up there is not properly insulated, because animals walk across powerlines all the time without incident. So, maybe we owe Pepco a call.

Does anyone know who to call when you find a few too many dead animals beneath your powerlines?

That's it for today.

-Hyattsville Mom