There was a young squirrel who ate seeds,
He ate more than anyone needs,
But though he got fat,
He just said, “What of that?
Please keep on providing the feeds.”
Category Archives: squirrels
Newsflash
I don’t usually do two posts in one day, but this one is important.
The Captain heard a ruckus nearby and saw two robins divebombing a little squirrel who clung to the bark of a large fir tree with all his terrified strength. I suppose it had come too close to a nearby nest.
It took a few seconds before the Captain realized that this was a very small squirrel and that it had only a short tail, the kind that baby squirrels have.
We’d almost given up on seeing any baby squirrels this year, so this one was a surprise. I wonder if it’s the only one. I’m sure he is Crispin’s baby.
I also wonder if he survived this cold night. It has been windy and rainy almost as if it were winter. Some sunflower seeds in the woodshed might help it along.
The baby squirrel clung to the tree for several minutes. It gave me lots of time to get the camera and snap a few pictures, but I worried that he was so exposed to predators for so long.
Finally he decided to make his way down the tree and back into the woods.
Welcome to our little animal world. Now I’ll have to think of a name for him.
Vandalism
It’s time for spring cleaning and I took a broom to sweep the deck. But whoa! What was this? Did I have a raccoon or a rat visiting at night? What a mess!
I found a clue. A fir cone left behind. But maybe it had just been blown there by the wind. We have had some very windy days….
But in the corner at the front of the deck, I found more clues. Again, it could have been blown there by the wind….
But a closer look told me that the vandal had taken time out to have a snack and even had plans to eat a second cone before something scared him away.
Busted!
“Hmm … what to do now?”
“I might just have to rethink this….”
“It’s a good thing she loves me so much!”
Lunchtime
Hoo-whee! These fir cones are like a candy cane. So good!
Oh! Sorry. That was rude of me. Would you like to share this one?
These cones come in little wings that you can peel off. I’ll get one for you.
What’s that? Not your kind of food? Oh, too bad. I’ll get back to it then.
Say, if you really want to see me in action, play the video. Be sure to turn up the sound so you can hear the robins singing their spring songs.
Temptation
tempting food nearby
go for it or play it safe
scurries fast away
S is for Squirrel Babies
Just to set the record straight before you read and look at the photos – these are the baby squirrels from a couple of years ago. There were no babies this year that I know of.
“Come on, you guys! It’s lonely at the top.”
“Let’s wrestle.”
“We need a referee.”
“You go down and tell him to come up while I find a referee’s chair for him to sit on up high.”
“Aw, come on! Stop playing hard to get.”
“I don’t want to be referee. It’s too boring.”
“Let’s play tag instead.”
“You’re it.”
S is for squirrel babies.
Wild Weather
Before the big windstorm happened, the Captain was keeping a few cans of beer cool, in a plastic tote on top of the patio table that you can just see the corner of at the right side of the photo.
The second patio table, the round one on the left, used to sit in the middle of the deck where the fallen hanging basket is lying on its side now. The wind must have blown the table over as far as it could go.
The oranges were on the table beside the beer cans, to keep cool. I also had a small parsley plant in a pot. You might see it lying on its side without the pot near the far end of the deck. Just a matted clump of dirt with a few yellow green leaves in it.
The blue pieces are part of a small clay pot that I painted about ten years ago. I always liked that little pot, but never imagined that the wind could send it flying off the table and smash it. The white saucer used to be under the parsley pot. Not sure where that pot ended up. I think it was plastic so it may have flown to the neighbours’ place or be in the next town by now.
The bits of branches from the fir trees are relatively small compared to the branch that came down just beyond the deck, as you will see in the next photo.
I’m glad no people, dogs, or squirrels were out for a walk when this branch decided to drop in, and I was so happy to see the squirrels and two hummingbirds alive in the morning.
And so, further to the previous post about Thanksgiving Day, and all we have to be thankful for, I feel very thankful to have been spared major trouble from this windstorm. Even the few hours of a loss of power were not too bad. I can’t begin to imagine the terror people go through in hurricanes. Hearing this wind roar through like a freight train was bad enough.
Crispin’s Dinnertime
What a grand winter home Crispin has!
His bedrooms are deep in the middle of the woodshed. You can see that the Scotchman (that pink float hanging on the left side) is still there. He hasn’t frayed quite ALL of the rope that’s holding it up … yet.
His kitchen and dining room are in the center of the house near the middle post. Zoom in if you want a better view of what’s cooking.
Lately it’s been the same old boring diet of walnuts, but at least they are pre-cracked to save on teeth.
Click on the video for a few shaky seconds of dinnertime.
Bon appetit!
Cozy Winter Prep
It’s a changing season and the squirrels are feeling the need to make a warm, cozy nest to curl up in for those chilly winter nights. They have spent weeks harvesting hazelnuts for food and stashing them away. Now they are working on their next priority – shelter.
The rope you see the squirrel chewing on is holding up a float used in fishing to mark where a crab pot or a prawn trap is located under the water. Or it could be used as a bumper between boats that are tied up next to each other.
I don’t think the squirrel cares what the float was used for. It is only interested in the fuzziness of the rope, that makes it perfect for adding an insulating factor to the nest of dry leaves it has stashed away somewhere in the middle of the woodshed.
But how to get the rope away from the float? The squirrel has been working on it for days and days and days. It is almost ready to let go; only a few strands are left holding the fuzzy ball of rope to the rest of the line. Watch how he keeps rolling up the fuzzy fibers and pulling to try to get it to let go of the rope.
So far, it hasn’t worked. Just a few strands left to rip off. He’s pulling with all his might. It might be just a matter of more muscle.
He must be so frustrated. Watch his new trick where he approaches the problem from another angle. He’s quite the acrobat, holding on with his back feet.
Now you must be wondering if he ever got that piece of rope. Well, this morning when I went out to look, the fuzzy part he had chewed on was gone. The line holding up the float is getting thinner. One day both the squirrels and I will be surprised to see the float on the ground.
Planning Ahead
Remember us?
We’re all grown up now and we’ve learned all about getting ready for winter.
The hazelnuts are falling off the trees and it’s important to get as many as possible and hide them away for the winter.
But Anneli has raked up a whole bunch of the leaves and the first hazelnuts that fell because they’re mostly the bad ones. She’s put them in this wheelbarrow. But maybe she accidentally raked up some good ones. Better check out the wheelbarrow.
What do you think? Is it worth rummaging through all that debris in case there’s a good nut in there? Oh! Wait! I think I see a good one on the ground over there.
Ahhhhh, yes! This is more like it!
Nice of Anneli to share the hazelnuts, don’t you think? We’re not greedy. We’ve left her a handful.
wordsfromanneli 