# Really kid? Out of all this, that's what you're excited about? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 17, 2010, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-kid-out-of-all-this-thats-what-youre-excited-about/564450 "2010-12-17T00:36:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2010, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-kid-out-of-all-this-thats-what-youre-excited-about/564450/41 "2010-12-17T16:16:13Z")
> [@Zyada](#): > > [Chipmunk, maybe?](http://www.flickr.com/photos/zyada/256275709/) Chipmunk? It looks like a squirrel. Or is there a chipmunk hidden somewhere, too? Based on the comments it sounds like there’s something hidden in that pic… ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2010, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-kid-out-of-all-this-thats-what-youre-excited-about/564450/42 "2010-12-17T16:17:19Z")
> [@Zyada](#): > > [Chipmunk, maybe?](http://www.flickr.com/photos/zyada/256275709/) pssst…that’s a squirrel. You can tell my the fluffy tail and the “I’m going to kill you now” look in its beady little eyes. ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2010, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-kid-out-of-all-this-thats-what-youre-excited-about/564450/43 "2010-12-17T16:40:21Z")
Ja, totally a squirrel. Chipmunks are smaller, redder, and stripey-er. They’re both cute (I think, anyway) but chipmunks _bring_ the cuteness. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2010, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-kid-out-of-all-this-thats-what-youre-excited-about/564450/44 "2010-12-17T16:43:13Z")
> [@control-z](#): > > When she was 3 or so, my daughter liked to play with colored drinking straws. She’d have all sorts of dramatic play-adventures with them. It’s not like she didn’t have plenty of dolls. One of my favorite toys for some time during my childhood was … a small cage. An empty black cage, with a lock and a key for the door. It weirded my mother out to no end that I’d sit in the backseat of the car, opening and closing that lock. (IIRC, the cage was not empty … to me. 😉 The contents were up to my imagination.) She’d insist that I’d take some other toy along with the cage when we went on car trips, so I’d have something to lock up I suppose, but I’d always just leave the other toy sitting idly and forlorn on the backseat, while I played with that empty cage. I’d forgotten all about that till this thread. We took a long trip through Germany to visit relatives when I was about 6 or so, and all I remember of that trip was 1) the giant argument my mother got into with her MIL while I played with a toy farm set with my cousin, and 2) the train ride - it had _bunk beds_, which were strange and exotic to an only child like me! I’m sure we saw all sorts of cultural things, but … _bunk beds!!1!_ ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2010, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-kid-out-of-all-this-thats-what-youre-excited-about/564450/45 "2010-12-17T16:47:34Z")
> [@Snickers](#): > > They’re both cute (I think, anyway) but chipmunks _bring_ the cuteness. _ahem_ These [Japanese Flying Dwarf Squirrels](http://64.19.142.12/melissadixson.typepad.com/.a/6a01053659f647970b0120a5532ce6970c-800wi) would like to have a word with you. ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2010, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-kid-out-of-all-this-thats-what-youre-excited-about/564450/46 "2010-12-17T16:48:52Z")
Well, I had to find out the difference between chipmunks and squirrels because of y’all. I thought it was a chipmunk because it was quite a bit smaller than the squirrels I’m used to, its tail was not as fluffy and it didn’t hold its tail the way I’m used to. However, googling, I find that chipmunks are considered in the same family as squirrels, and the main difference is size (chipmunks run 1/2 the size of squirrels) and that chipmunks have very noticable stripes on their face. And ground squirrels don’t have quite the bushiness of tail that tree squirrels do. So y’all are right, that is a squirrel after all. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2010, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-kid-out-of-all-this-thats-what-youre-excited-about/564450/47 "2010-12-17T17:00:12Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > _ahem_ > > These [Japanese Flying Dwarf Squirrels](http://64.19.142.12/melissadixson.typepad.com/.a/6a01053659f647970b0120a5532ce6970c-800wi) would like to have a word with you. I can’t seem to load that picture, but [this guy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Rene2.jpg) will take on anyone! ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2010, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-kid-out-of-all-this-thats-what-youre-excited-about/564450/48 "2010-12-17T17:00:27Z")
On my kids’ first visit to the zoo, they were most interested in the chickens. Maybe because they’d seen all the exotic animals on nature shows – they were familiar. Wild Kingdom never did a show on chickens. ---
**Author:** ![Double\_Foolscap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85e7bf/32.png) [@Double\_Foolscap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Double_Foolscap)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2010, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-kid-out-of-all-this-thats-what-youre-excited-about/564450/49 "2010-12-17T17:08:30Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > I can’t seem to load that picture, but [this guy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Rene2.jpg) will take on anyone! Have you made me break out the [fennec fox](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3296/2433657984_da92e73a8a_z.jpg)? Yep, you’ve made me break out the [fennec fox](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fennec_Fox_@_Africa_Alive,_Lowestoft.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2010, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-kid-out-of-all-this-thats-what-youre-excited-about/564450/50 "2010-12-17T17:11:55Z")
My then five year old niece came to visit me. I arranged a whole trip downtown with lunch, a movie, and shopping. She’s talking with her mother on the phone that night. “You kow what the best part was? I got to ride on a big bus and put the money in the box all by myself.” Kid had never been on a bus before. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2010, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-kid-out-of-all-this-thats-what-youre-excited-about/564450/51 "2010-12-17T17:18:48Z")
> [@InterestedObserver](#): > > And hells yeah, a big ol’ BOX is always way better than whatever came in it. 😃 > The best are refrigerator boxes…you can spend weeks making that into a house. (I have helped do so several times;)) Yes, when I was young we got a new fridge in a heavy double-layer wood-re-infornced box, which made a perfect clubhouse. Only toy I remember from my early days. ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2010, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-kid-out-of-all-this-thats-what-youre-excited-about/564450/52 "2010-12-17T17:22:35Z")
> [@Skara\_Brae](#): > > I remember when I went to Disney World as a kid. My sister and cousin (both around 5) had a blast…rolling down a little green hill where we had stopped to get churros. They cried we we made them leave so we could go on the rides. When I was around 4, my parents (we lived in Ohio) took us to Florida for vacation. I have no memory of this, or of visiting Disney (although there are pictures to document that I was there). I do remember, when we stopped in St. Augustine, there was this big Navy ship in dock that you could go on and wander around a little bit (probably just restricted to the top deck, but I really have no idea). Everything on that ship was bare metal. My sister and I were wearing little girl shorts. The hot Florida sun had been beating down on that bare metal ship deck all day. Dad made us sit down on something to take our pictures, neverminding our howls of pain when our bare legs hit that molten hot bare metal. THAT’s what I remember about my Florida vacation as a young child: burning my ass off on some Navy ship in the burning heat. ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2010, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-kid-out-of-all-this-thats-what-youre-excited-about/564450/53 "2010-12-17T17:35:49Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > I remember my friend from Christchurch, New Zealand came up to Chicago to see me on her honeymoon. > > I was showing them all around Chicago and they were like “Oh yeah yet ANOTHER tall building.” Not impressed terribly, when all of a sudden Karen grabs her husband and says “Look Dave,” and they point at a squirrel, and he says “Oh my God, it’s a squirrel and it’s not even in a cage, it’s just running around.” > > They had never seen one before. But I’m thinking of all the things in Chicago THIS is what impressed them? 😃 I’ve seen this before from people who come from squirrel-less countries. And it makes sense, if you think about it. Squirrels are incredibly cute, and they chase each other around, and they play, and they are generally really cool little animals. But those of use who grew up around them barely even notice 'em. ---
**Author:** ![brainstall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@brainstall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brainstall)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2010, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-kid-out-of-all-this-thats-what-youre-excited-about/564450/54 "2010-12-17T17:49:51Z")
When I went to visit my grandmother when I was little she used to take me for a ride on the Toronto subway. We didn’t go anywhere, just to the end of the Bloor/Danforth line and back. I loved it. We sat in the front car and I knelt on the seat by the front window and watched the tracks. Loved the parts where the train comes out from underground and you see a bit of the city. For her was probably a cheap and easy way to keep me entertained for a couple of hours. ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2010, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-kid-out-of-all-this-thats-what-youre-excited-about/564450/55 "2010-12-17T18:45:02Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > One of my favorite toys for some time during my childhood was … a small cage. An empty black cage, with a lock and a key for the door. It weirded my mother out to no end that I’d sit in the backseat of the car, opening and closing that lock. (IIRC, the cage was not empty … to me. 😉 The contents were up to my imagination.) She’d insist that I’d take some other toy along with the cage when we went on car trips, so I’d have something to lock up I suppose, but I’d always just leave the other toy sitting idly and forlorn on the backseat, while I played with that empty cage. “Ça, c’est la [caisse](http://systar.hautetfort.com/images/Case_boite_categorie_-_boite.jpg). Le mouton que tu veux est dedans.” (From the [Little Prince](http://www.angelfire.com/hi/littleprince/chapter2.html); “This is only his box. The sheep you asked for is inside.”) ---
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2010, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-kid-out-of-all-this-thats-what-youre-excited-about/564450/56 "2010-12-17T18:54:23Z")
When I was at the stage of walking where I was just starting to be able to walk unassisted by people or furniture, we visited my Great Aunt. She lived in an apartment and there was a wall dividing the hallway from the living room. One could walk all the way around this wall, and apparently I did–endlessly(I was too young to remember). It fascinated my relatives that I never was interested in the stuff on the coffee table–which included candy at a nice reachable level–but kept walking around and around and around. ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2010, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-kid-out-of-all-this-thats-what-youre-excited-about/564450/57 "2010-12-17T18:59:46Z")
> [@Zyada](#): > > [Chipmunk, maybe?](http://www.flickr.com/photos/zyada/256275709/) Yes! That was the beastie, whatever it is called. One of the things I LOVED about US wildlife parks is how fearless the animals were. I herd it is absolutely forbidden to interacti with them (chase, feed) so they treated people like a kind of moving boulder. On the way to the Grand Canyon, within the border of the park, there were deer strolling along on the middle of the road, oblivious to the cars silently queing up behind them. In the Netherlands, wild animals either hide from humans or they bug them for food, so the attitude of those animals near the Canyon was an endless delight for me. ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2010, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-kid-out-of-all-this-thats-what-youre-excited-about/564450/58 "2010-12-17T21:04:29Z")
> [@Maastricht](#): > > One of the things I LOVED about US wildlife parks is how fearless the animals were. I herd it is absolutely forbidden to interacti with them (chase, feed) so they treated people like a kind of moving boulder. On the way to the Grand Canyon, within the border of the park, there were deer strolling along on the middle of the road, oblivious to the cars silently queing up behind them. I had one deer treat me like more than a moving boulder - my ex and I were driving around the North Rim, and a deer came up to the car and tried to stick its head in the window. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![dhkendall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9adbd/32.png) [@dhkendall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dhkendall)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2010, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-kid-out-of-all-this-thats-what-youre-excited-about/564450/59 "2010-12-17T21:33:16Z")
> [@PoorYorick](#): > > The last time I was in downtown New Orleans, I saw two boys, about 7 or 8, chasing each other through a revolving door at a hotel with an exasperated mother looking on. I guarantee you, twenty years from now when you ask them what they remember about New Orleans, they’ll say that damned revolving door. Ah, this (and several subsequent posts) reminds me of my own little tale. As I’ve mentioned one of my goals in life is to see all 10 provinces, I’ve been to 6 - as far west as Victoria BC and as far east as Montreal. However, the Montreal trip was the earliest, I was about 6 at the time, and the only thing I remember is the cool play structure at the McDonald’s there. Any Montreal Dopers? Is it still there? 😉 (Fortunately, I’ve been to Quebec exactly one other time in my life, on a family trip to Ottawa when I was about 18 my uncle in Ottawa took us to the Gatineau Hills for lunch - I don’t remember much about that trip either, but at least it’s a bit more than the Montreal thing (although just inside Quebec - really have to go again … ) ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2010, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-kid-out-of-all-this-thats-what-youre-excited-about/564450/60 "2010-12-17T21:39:22Z")
> [@Maastricht](#): > > Yes! That was the beastie, whatever it is called. One of the things I LOVED about US wildlife parks is how fearless the animals were. I herd it is absolutely forbidden to interacti with them (chase, feed) so they treated people like a kind of moving boulder. On the way to the Grand Canyon, within the border of the park, there were deer strolling along on the middle of the road, oblivious to the cars silently queing up behind them. The deer do that in much of the country. The chipmunks do that because people feed them, in spite of the instructions not to. There’s nothing more fun than tying a peanut to the end of your fishing line and seeing how close you can reel the little buggers in before they let go. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-kid-out-of-all-this-thats-what-youre-excited-about/564450.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-kid-out-of-all-this-thats-what-youre-excited-about/564450.md?page=4)