The Confident Squirrel

Sometimes the best thing to do with any strong feeling is is to get it out so that strength dissipates. That was yesterday's post. I told you then of my feelings of loss of the past, but I also hinted at the end of the new future to come. The future is always an exciting mystery, with wonders yet to discover. Here's the first.

I happened to walk right up on this little fox squirrel while on my latest hike. I wish I had my zoom lense with me, but I didn't this time. The squirrel actually saw me there, but he didn't care at all. He was not even a little afraid of me. He even casually moved around a bit just to show me he could.

Just to be courteous to my new little friend, I stopped and let him enjoy his snack of an acorn. He seemed to be really enjoying it. This first picture is one of over fifty with him standing in that very same pose. As you may have guessed, he stood there like that for quite some time. He even glanced up at me several times to acknowledge my presence. I was delighted that he seemed to trust me.

After he was finished with his little meal - though I guess something the size of an acorn for him might be the size of a grapefruit for us - he turned to look at me for a couple of seconds. While he may look slightly confrontational in the picture, he was actually moving quite slowly. He was just getting a better look at me, before he searched for another nut.

This was his next move. He began searching the ground for another snack, and maybe a few to hide for the winter too. As his search progressed he began to lose interest in me, and at one point dug himself almost completely under the fallen leaves.


I guess he didn't find much because his search continued on and on. I knew from memory that before the leaves fell this was a good area for acorns, but maybe it's just a little harder to find them under all of these old leaves. I'm sure he'll find all he needs. There's tons of them around here.

When he was finally finished with his little acorn search, he decided it was time to leave. When a squirrel makes up his mind, I guess he feels a great need to move as fast as he can, because that's just what he did. I think part of the reason he leaped into the air like that was because they don't like staying right on the walking path.

That's right! Under these leaves is the trail I was standing on. It was completely covered by these fallen leaves. It's the first time I've seen that in this particular forest. I only discovered this place at the last half of last winter. I guess witnessing the transformation to winter here will be a whole new adventure for me. That might be fun!