All Hail the New Government, Composed Entirely of Squirrels, Robins and One Elusive Fox
Via the Atlantic, news of a violently adorable White House takeover:
The squirrels are always a problem in the garden, eating the berry crop in the summer months. But they’re now kids in a candy store, gorging themselves. The bushy-tailed residents are feasting on the ripe Sungolds on the vines, as well as on other tomatoes and peppers littering the ground, as are the many birds who call the White House home… The birds include blue jays, wood thrush, mocking birds, crows, and some robins still lingering in what was until this week a very warm October.
The squirrels are also serving their country. They’ve been spotted eating the volunteer mushrooms that have newly colonized the grounds. And about that fox that’s now living in the seat of American power: Thanks to the shutdown, groundskeepers have given up on their efforts to catch the elusive creature, who showed up to live inside the White House gates more than two weeks ago. It has been spotted many times at dawn and dusk, according to the White House source.
Day 15 of the shutdown! Depending on how you see your future in the hands of these woodland creatures, this whole scenario might be making the White House groundskeepers seem either much more, or perhaps much less, “essential.”