Tag Archives: Squirrel

There’s a Squirrel in the House!

30 Aug

Judy is on a blogging break and I’m enjoying going through Judy’s older post and choosing favorites to share. I hope you enjoy this one. I did-Onisha

Sunday Memories

Judy Willis

JUDY

I love to watch squirrels.  They are such fun to see – digging in the grass for buried treasures; chasing each other around the tree; sitting on their haunches, tail up and curled, eating some delightful morsel….

For some time, I had been feeding pecans to the squirrels in the back yard.  I would stand in the doorway and place the pecan closer and closer to my foot, just to see how close they would come to me.

Why is the dog, Maxie, running through the house?  Is she chasing something?  Then why isn’t she barking?  As I looked down over the bannister….who/what belonged to that gray tail?  Then I understood, and….FRED!  THERE’S A SQUIRREL IN THE HOUSE!!

As Fred ran to get a broom, I ran down the stairs and grabbed Maxie.  I took her to the front door and opened it and the screen door.  I crouched down, holding her wiggling body by her collar, next to me.  Fred ran into the living room.  Then I heard him scream a word that I had never heard him say before!

Next thing I know, the squirrel is racing for the open door.  And I just let go of Maxie and let her chase that squirrel to her heart’s content!  She didn’t catch it, of course, but not for lack of trying.

Seems the squirrel had jumped up on top of one of the picture frames over the couch.  As Fred swung the broom at it – it jumped at his face!  Hence the “word.”  But he was after that squirrel as fast as possible.

From then on, any time Maxie saw a squirrel outside the house, she went crazy, trying to get to it.  She never barked, but boy! did she race back and forth in front of the windows.

I shall never feed a pecan to a squirrel again!

John 10:10

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Surviving the Winter

16 Mar
A Few Thoughts
Patricia Franklin
This has been a long and cold winter here in Colorado, and we have been feeding the many species of birds who either stayed the winter or came passing through. Our bird feeder is mounted on a pole on my patio, just above my little rose that I planted in a barrel in the Fall. We put a wire cage around it and added dry leaves to keep it from freezing.
During these waning days of winter, a couple of squirrels have joined the birds, also looking for food. So they have been devouring the seeds that fall around the barrel. The squirrels love to get inside the cage and dig through the leaves for the seed.  I stand here by the patio window on cold days enjoying the birds and watching the squirrels chase each other around the yard, and I wish I could be out there too. A couple of times I noticed that the bigger squirrel chases the smaller one away from the barrel all the time and will not let him eat, while he himself is getting pretty fat.  But the smaller one has such a sunny disposition that he will entertain himself and me by running all over the yard, chasing his tail and doing flip after flip in the air. He is so cute and a real gymnast. 
On a couple nice sunny days, I was able to sit out on my patio chair just a few feet from the feeder.  I noticed that Fatso was really skittish and ran away when he saw me, but Frisky hung around and wanted his turn to eat. He crept up close to the barrel, then stood up on his hind feet and looked me in the eye. I stayed put, and he relaxed after a minute or two and started eating all around the barrel. Eventually he jumped up and in the cage and enjoyed a nice meal.  This happened a couple of times while I was out there and Fatso would stay away.  I figured Frisky had caught on and knew she was safe from Fatso bothering her. So I tested my theory the other day when I saw Fats in there for too long.  I went out and sat in my chair.  Fats ran away, and it wasn’t too long before Frisky came leaping across the lawn, stood up about 4 feet from me and looked me straight in the eye. Then he jumped up into the cage eating to his heart’s content. So today I repeated the same thing and I even talked to him while he was there. He did not seem to mind. So both of us sat there happy as a lark on a summer day.  Such is entertainment in the long cold days of winter in Colorado.

 

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There’s a Squirrel in the House!

23 Sep

Sunday Memories

Judy Willis

I love to watch squirrels.  They are such fun to see – digging in the grass for buried treasures; chasing each other around the tree; sitting on their haunches, tail up and curled, eating some delightful morsel….

For some time, I had been feeding pecans to the squirrels in the back yard.  I would stand in the doorway and place the pecan closer and closer to my foot, just to see how close they would come to me.

Why is the dog, Maxie, running through the house?  Is she chasing something?  Then why isn’t she barking?  As I looked down over the bannister….who/what belonged to that gray tail?  Then I understood, and….FRED!  THERE’S A SQUIRREL IN THE HOUSE!!

As Fred ran to get a broom, I ran down the stairs and grabbed Maxie.  I took her to the front door and opened it and the screen door.  I crouched down, holding her wiggling body by her collar, next to me.  Fred ran into the living room.  Then I heard him scream a word that I had never heard him say before!

Next thing I know, the squirrel is racing for the open door.  And I just let go of Maxie and let her chase that squirrel to her heart’s content!  She didn’t catch it, of course, but not for lack of trying.

Seems the squirrel had jumped up on top of one of the picture frames over the couch.  As Fred swung the broom at it – it jumped at his face!  Hence the “word.”  But he was after that squirrel as fast as possible.

From then on, any time Maxie saw a squirrel outside the house, she went crazy, trying to get to it.  She never barked, but boy! did she race back and forth in front of the windows.

I shall never feed a pecan to a squirrel again!

John 10:10

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How to Feed a Squirrel

6 Jun

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

 

After moving to Florida, one of our favorite family pastimes was camping.  We started with a small four-person tent and over the years upgraded several times ending up with a very nice pop-up tent camper.  We especially enjoyed the many Florida natural spring camping areas.  The flora, fauna and wildlife was truly a wonderful learning experience for our whole family.

 

On one occasion, after a morning of swimming and playing, my wife headed off to the bathhouse for a shower.  On the way back to the camper, she noticed that a squirrel was following her.  She thought that was so cute and kept encouraging it to follow her.  Well, it didn’t need much encouraging, and followed her all the way back to our camper where I was shelling and eating some salted peanuts.  As you might know, my activity immediately got the squirrel’s attention and I was instantly it’s friend.  I threw a peanut on the ground out in front of me to see what it would do.  It snapped up the peanut and had it shelled and eaten in no time.  I held another peanut to see how close it would come and then dropped it close to my feet.  It didn’t take it long to come right up to me for the next treat.  So, I decided to see if it would take a peanut from my hand.  I held one between my fingers and held it out.  the squirrel came right up to me, stood up on it’s back legs, put one front paw on each of my fingers, I thought to steady the procedure, and calmly bit one of my fingers.  I couldn’t believe it!  Here that squirrel was biting the hand that was feeding it.  What kind of gratitude was that?  You can be sure that squirrel didn’t get any more of my salted peanuts.

I’ve recently learned that scrub jays like to take peanuts out of your hand. Maybe I’ll try that next time and see what happens.

 

 

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