While pruning one of our yew trees, I reached in towards the center, groping for the branch to cut, and felt a bird’s nest, obviously left there late last spring. Hesitantly, I checked for leftover unhatched eggs or dead chicks before I would throw the nest away.

The “eggs” I found in the nest were all cracked open, but they sure looked like hazelnut shells to me.

“Aha! Crispin the Squirrel has been here. I hope he only found the nest after the baby birds had flown.” I reasoned that the hazelnuts would not have been ripe until late fall, and the baby birds would have flown in the spring, so I didn’t think too badly of Crispin for making himself at home in this new dining room of his.

 

“Uh-ohhh … she found my stash.”

Another cinquain –  five lines with 2, 4, 6, 8, and 2 syllables in each line respectively.

Crispin

Pampered squirrel

Who enjoys my woodshed

Where I bring him cracked hazelnuts

To eat.