Earlier in this countdown, I featured a squirrel with an obvious cast iron stomach that 
wasn’t afraid to chew up those spiky sweet gum balls that rain down in torrents from their trees. Now, most humans aren’t going to pick one of these prickly things up and get the temptation to put it in their mouth. But where these balls of non-pleasure really get their notorious reputation is in how they feel not so nice on the feet when you walk on one. And wherever they fall, there’s usually a whole bunch of them laying around…
These natural minefields get even worse when the spiky fruits turn hard and brown after they’ve been off the tree for a while. The result is an area of ground that is very difficult for man or beast to traverse… as this poor squirrel I captured a couple years ago would find out.
Must tread CAREFULLY….
Well, this isn’t so bad now…
Whoa, wait a minute! They’re multiplying!!!
I’m gonna have to make a jump for it!
We do hope our intrepid squirrel made it clear of this dangerous minefield without picking up a purple heart. But for his bravery in the face of sweet gum ball hell, we honor this nimble-footed squirrel as my 39th favorite Saturday Squirrel of all time!
Evil Squirrel's Nest 
could be a new trend… squirrel mine sweeper ;O)
That field is on the very hard level..
Yikes……that is a mine field. Glad we don’t have one of those trees here – I don’t think Teddy would like them much either!
Pam
They’re probably not a very fun cat toy…
A nimble and agile creature indeed.
👍
He would be great at The Floor Is Lava…
We’ve got one of those trees down the street. Have never seen a squirrel, nor any critter for that matter, in the area when the mines fall.
They seem to like those mines at the park and even nibble on them. We have some brave squirrels!
Holy cow…that truly is a minefield. Those things are beyond dangerous!
A field full of bloody soles and twisted ankles…
We call those blasted things bucky balls after Buckminster Fuller, the architect, because he was so devoted to ball structures. I do hope that squirrel has an iron clad mouth – give him an acorn for trying.
That’s funny! At least Buckminster Fullers balls (the ones he BUILT) don’t have spikes on them…
I shudder just thinking of traversing that in bare paws.
Never walk outside without something covering your paws…
Yikes, I bet that squirrel pays more attention to where he’s going from now on. Or, at least maybe a day or two. Some squirrels just don’t seem to learn. Flatso, the squirrel that I almost flattened twice, sadly didn’t learn from his 2 near death experiences and apparently ran out in front of someone who didn’t slam on the brakes soon enough to save his furry little hide.
Poor Flatso! That’s a cute name, but it sucks he had to live up to it…
Now I feel guilty for naming him Flatso. I should have been more optimistic and named him Lucky.
Yeah, it’s the Smurf Rule. Name a squirrel Flatso, and he’s going to live up to the moniker…