What's up with these squirrels?

Ever since we've moved in to this house there's been a resident squirrel who frequented our backyard. My stepmom told Beanie she always called squirrels Joe Squirrel and henceforth our resident squirrel had a name.

The other day we were all out in the backyard while Glenn was BBQing. Beanie was running around and, all of the sudden, stopped, pointed at the grass and said there was a squirrel in the grass. I looked over and told Glenn I thought there was a dead squirrel on the lawn. He didn't believe me. And then Beanie, in her three year-old-innocence, said, "He has bugs on him."

My poor girl lost Joe Squirrel. She was devastated. Very worried about him. She worried that he was hurt and sad. We explained that he wasn't hurting anymore and he wasn't sad. She talked about Joe Squirrel all night. We told her that it wasn't Joe, that it was his friend Bob Squirrel and Joe would be back to play in the yard.

Well, last night we were all sitting down for dinner when Glenn noticed a squirrel just sitting on our deck. He must've said something to me because Beanie wanted to get down from the table and say hi. Problem was, little Joe Squirrel was just sitting there. He was breathing, but he wasn't moving much. Not even when Glenn tapped on the window and opened the sliding glass door. He decided he would wake up early for work and see if we had another deceased squirrel in the yard. A bit later Joe Squirrel took off from the deck and ran across the yard. He finally made it over the fence and out of our yard. Thank goodness -- we don't need any more dead squirrels.

Except this morning I took a peek out that window and that darn Joe Squirrel is sprawled out dead under our deck chair. Now I gotta make sure Beanie doesn't look out the window until Glenn gets home and can take care of him. Because the whole dead squirrel thing makes me a bit squeamish.

Someone or something is killing the squirrels in our neighborhood. And they're choosing our yard to die in. Awesome.

Or, as Beanie would say, (I guess sarcasm is lost on a three year-old), "No, Mommy, that's not awesome.

We don't put chemicals on our lawn, but maybe one of the neighbors did and it's making the squirrels sick? I don't know, I just really don't want any more dead animals in my yard....