{"id":788,"date":"2009-05-18T13:24:47","date_gmt":"2009-05-18T17:24:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/o-matic.com\/blog-archive-2022\/\/?p=788"},"modified":"2009-05-18T13:32:11","modified_gmt":"2009-05-18T17:32:11","slug":"%e2%80%9cred-squirrels%e2%80%9d-she-said-%e2%80%9care-rather-like-quiet-well-behaved-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/o-matic.com\/blog-archive-2022\/blog\/2009\/05\/18\/%e2%80%9cred-squirrels%e2%80%9d-she-said-%e2%80%9care-rather-like-quiet-well-behaved-people\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cRed squirrels,\u201d she said, \u201care rather like quiet, well-behaved people.”"},"content":{"rendered":"

The article “The Squirrel Wars<\/a>,” by D.T. Max, that ran in the NY Times in 2007 on the Red vs Gray struggle has a wonderful mid-section devoted to the House of Lords discussion on the subject. As a perhaps-important underscore, the House has cut hereditary peers’ membership\u00a0 by 90% in the recent decade.<\/p>\n

Lady Saltoun of Abernethy, the 21st to hold that title in Scotland…spoke to point out the inherent superiority of the red over the gray squirrel: \u201cRed squirrels,\u201d she said, \u201care rather like quiet, well-behaved people who do not make a nuisance or an exhibition of themselves or commit crimes and so do not get themselves into the papers in the vulgar way gray squirrels do.\u201d She continued: \u201cRed squirrels do not strip bark from trees; damage arable crops, market gardens and garden plants; dig up bulb and corms from recently sown seed; eat birds\u2019 eggs; or eat telephone wires and electricity cables, as gray squirrels do.\u201d Lady Saltoun suggested some research be done on whether gray squirrels tasted good. She foresaw a fight at the dinner table: \u201cI have a nasty feeling that . . . children in particular would say, \u2018Oh, no, I couldn\u2019t possibly eat that,\u2019 just as they say they cannot eat dear little bunny rabbits. But this is worth having a look at.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Rt Hon. The Lady Saltoun (n\u00e9e Ms. Flora Fraser, me being a vulgar American) is the only female holder of a lordship of Parliament who has a seat in the House of Lords as an elected hereditary peer. She is the head of the Frasers of Philorth. (thanks Wikipedia). But her comments, while perhaps more focused on etiquette, are not anomalous among the peerage.<\/p>\n

Here is Lady Saltoun’s web site. <\/a>
\nShe has a fantastic genealogy and has written the books\u00a0 “Clan Fraser,” “Lady Saltoun’s Favourite Fish Dishes,” and\u00a0 “Lady Saltoun’s Favourite Puddings.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The article “The Squirrel Wars,” by D.T. Max, that ran in the NY Times in 2007 on the Red vs Gray struggle has a wonderful mid-section devoted to the House of Lords discussion on the subject. As a perhaps-important underscore, the House has cut hereditary peers’ membership\u00a0 by 90% in the recent decade. Lady Saltoun … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “\u201cRed squirrels,\u201d she said, \u201care rather like quiet, well-behaved people.””<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5,29],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/o-matic.com\/blog-archive-2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/788"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/o-matic.com\/blog-archive-2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/o-matic.com\/blog-archive-2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/o-matic.com\/blog-archive-2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/o-matic.com\/blog-archive-2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=788"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/o-matic.com\/blog-archive-2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/788\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":790,"href":"https:\/\/o-matic.com\/blog-archive-2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/788\/revisions\/790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/o-matic.com\/blog-archive-2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/o-matic.com\/blog-archive-2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/o-matic.com\/blog-archive-2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}