BEWARE OF SUICIDAL SQUIRRELS!!

I always travel to work and back home along Holly Rd. On clear days I get a nice view of Mt. Hood.  I admire the residents gardens, especially one filled with dahlias.  I smile at the horses and imagine them trotting with manes and tails wafting in the breeze.
I have always enjoyed this little jaunt.
But the last three evenings have been harrowing.  At this one point along the road headed towards Redland, just after the curve on Holly, a daredevil squirrel has dashed out from the side of the road where he hides behind rocks or brush (I swear he is waiting for me!) and played chicken with my vehicle!!
Now my best friend, Sue, always tells me that she does not swerve for the critters.  Another acquaintance has told me that he does not brake for squirrels.
But I am an animal lover, so I hit my brakes and swerved to avoid the cantankerous devil.

He leapt back towards where he had come from after going halfway across the lane, and I was sure I had hit him.  I was shaking, and then saw him run back across in the other direction and knew he was safe.  But it was almost like he was playing tag with my car!  And this has happened three times now.  I think he is lucky that I drive slower than most or he may have been road kill!

As I finished my drive home, I kept thinking of that commercial for an insurance company where the squirrels run in front of a car, then you hear the squeal and a crash, and then the squirrels high-five each other and laugh.  Hmmm...I wonder if he was high-fiving a partner and then laughing as I drove on my way?

Tomorrow evening I am going to either be fully prepared for him and go only 10 mph, or I will take a different route and trick him!