Squirrels in Heat?

It's unseasonably warm here in the mountains of North Carolina. Warm enough to run in shorts and wear flip flops. Today I saw four squirrels running hither and yon, chasing each other across the lawn, up and down oak turnks and leaping off its branches. They moved so aggressively and chattered so loudly, I was a little freaked out. Wouldn't want to meet them in a dark alley. Why so many squirrels in motion? Isn't this the wrong season for squirrel love? But what else could it be? And what does one call a group of squirrels--herd, gaggle, pride, squad?

Tomorrow we (me and a couple of fiction buddies) may play hooky from the poetry lecture and go into town to the farmer's market to try cat's head biscuits (biscuits the size of a cat's head) and pinto beans with chow chow. Being here is not primarily about anthropological forays. On the other hand, why pass up a chance for genuine southern cooking? And how can ANYONE pass up something called cat's head biscuits? Two points if you know what chow chow is. Jonathan?