#squinney

[noir-poetography]

Thirteen-Lined Ground Squirrel

© 2021, James Blatter

[markemaier]

13-lined ground squirrel

[jjflow]

Des Moines, You're So Weird

I sometimes forget about the little random quirks of living in Des Moines my whole life. As far as Central Iowa is concerned, Halloween is over. We have Beggar's night on October 30th. Kids go trick or treating and are required to tell a joke to get their candy. The reasons behind it all can be found here.

I never even realized this was weird or different from the rest of the planet until I was in college in Ames, IA and got tricked into having to be the one to open the door for all the kids by my roommates. The first few kids came to the door, said "trick or treat" and I said "Do you have a joke?" They looked at me like I was insane, said no, took their candy, and left. I proceeded to explain to my roommates when they got home how lazy kids are these days and how they didn't even TRY to come up with a joke. My roommates then looked at me like I was insane and told me they had no idea what I was talking about either. That is when I learned Des Moines was "different".

Don't even get me started on the Squinney and how it's NOT a ground squirrel and it totally is a real thing: