A Squirrelly Surprise in the Heart of the Park

Well, folks, let me tell you about an unexpected encounter I had on one of my old morning strolls through my beloved local nature park. The kind of moment that leaves you scratching your head and thinking, "Did I really just see that?" And it involves one of my favorite subjects. Squirrels!

The morning was off to a great start. The air was crisp, the sunlight peeked through the trees in that magical way it does, and the world seemed to be humming along just right. I was lost in thought, admiring the beauty around me, when a sudden rustling caught my attention.

Right there in front of me stood a grand old tree, one that's probably seen more sunrises than any of us. And from this tree, would you believe it, hundreds of squirrels were making a dash for it! They scattered in every direction, their tails a flurry of motion, and the forest floor seemed alive with their energy. I was so taken aback by the sight, I just stood there staring, forgetting completely about my camera. The moment was so surreal, I forgot to even snap a picture.

As a side note, the picture below is the first view of what I look like without my fake rat suit on that I like to claim that I wear while hiking. Oh, that isn't really me, but it's remarkably close. I wore a brown jacket then, and mine had a hood.

This is also one of my old adventures that I've finally been able to bring to life in these new pictures. It really happened, but sadly I don't have the pictures to prove it this time. Even so, I'll remember it to the end of my days. How could I forget something like that?

So, if you're ever wandering through your local park and come across an old tree like that one, keep an eye out. Nature has a way of surprising us when we least expect it. And maybe, just maybe, you'll be luckier than me and capture your wild moment for posterity! 

Thank you to the few of you who remember me. I read all your comments. I'll talk to you later. 

 

Merry Christmas Everyone! 2019

Here's a special Christmas present from me to you. This picture is for all of you who have decided to visit me on Christmas Eve, even though I haven't posted nearly enough this year. I share this same picture for most years, but the post is a little new. I encountered this scene several years ago. I really did take the picture. It was at a place called Carpenter Lake.

Click on the picture to make it bigger for the best effect. Take a close look at Santa's reindeer. There's something very strange about them. Santa is a little different than normal too, but I'll never tell how.

Maybe Santa will think of using turkeys or bison one of these upcoming years, but he still likes the squirrels. I wonder what happened to those reindeer. Maybe these guys are for alternate days. You will probably have trouble seeing it, but the lead squirrel has a red nose.

I keep promising to post more often, and one of these days I'll surprise you. I'm still getting my hiking skills back so maybe 2020 will be my year. Until then it's time to take a little break and to say...

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Merry Christmas 2018

Here's a special Christmas present from me to you. This picture is for all of you who have decided to visit me on Christmas Eve. I share this same picture on most years, but the post is new. I encountered this scene several years ago. I really did take the picture. It was at a place called Carpenter Lake.

Click on the picture to make it bigger for the best effect. Take a close look at Santa's reindeer. There's something very strange about them. Santa is a little different than normal too, but I'll never tell how.

Maybe Santa will think of using turkeys or bison one of these upcoming years, but he still likes the squirrels. I wonder what happened to those reindeer. Maybe these guys are for alternate days. You will probably have trouble seeing it, but the lead squirrel has a red nose.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

A Squirrely Christmas Present For You

Here's a special Christmas present from me to you. This picture is for all of you who have decided to visit me on Christmas Eve. Click on the picture to make it bigger for the best effect. Take a close look at Santa's reindeer. There's something very strange about them.

I guess this is why Santa Claus was looking so closely at those squirrels Friday.

Merry Christmas everybody!

Finding Happiness On A Winter Hike

I have a new attitude about the local nature where I live. It has taken me years to adjust from the plentiful trees in Michigan to the open areas of this part of Iowa. But I think I may have finally decided I like the way nature is around here.

Adjusting to the fact that there aren't nearly as many trees here has been a huge problem for me. All I have been able to think about was all those fields of nothing but grass. How would I explore in the grass? I felt so lost.

But then not too long before I discovered that my back was finally getting better, I realized that some of my favorite adventures from Michigan were from the few open areas of my old nature parks. Those new thoughts began to open something good in my mind. I began to realize that the same thing could happen here.

And then this winter as I began exploring my closest nature park I looked around and remembered that there are also some trees there too. There aren't nearly as many, but there may be enough. And there are other reasons I can like this much more than I thought.

One of the things I missed from Michigan was all of the squirrels. If you read some of my past posts from then you'll see that I'm somewhat of a squirrel expert. But here with no trees, there are also no squirrels. At least that's what I thought.

It took winter and the bare trees for me to discover that there are actually a lot of squirrels. I just didn't ever see them before because these country squirrels don't trust me yet because I haven't been to this park enough. I saw plenty of them on my most recent hike, but they stayed a little too far away for my camera. They will come closer with time.

So I'm happy to walk these snow covered hills as often as I can. I need to make new friends with the animals here. They will begin to come out the more I come to this place. Squirrels are curious little creatures. They won't be able to resist coming out to investigate this new two-legged creature walking through their home. Maybe the other animals will investigate as well.

Now that I can hike a little bit again I'll be visiting this little nature park many times this winter. Maybe my pictures might be a little repetitive, but my adventures will be all new. The adventure is the fun part.

I never knew this park was so busy with wildlife until now. In one of my next few posts I'll tell you what other kinds of animals I found here in this park. Maybe by then I'll even get some pictures of some, but the story is what's important. And for now, I'll talk to you later.

The Return Of An Old Nemesis

I was wandering around minding my own business. I wasn't anticipating taking any pictures at all. That may be why you are wondering exactly what it is that you're looking at.

At the bottom of that tree, you might see a little speck of color. That is my subject of the day. I only had my phone camera with me so I couldn't zoom in enough to get a proper picture.

I wish I could have shown this little rascal to you a bit better, but I do still have something for you. Would you like to know now what the heck I'm talking about?

It's the return of my old nemesis, Flynn, the squirrel adventurer. Just look at him standing there laughing at me. He's been tormenting me for years. This little scoundrel followed me all the way from Michigan to harass and taunt me once again.

He's the only one to ever get a picture of me and put it on this blog. He's been making fun of me for nine long years because I put on this rat suit as a joke and the zipper got stuck. I've been unable to get out of it ever since. I gotta to tell ya, the smell in here is ungodly.

If you are at all curious as to my insane rantings, and you want to read the whole story of my adventures with Flynn, then do a search on this blog for "Flynn". You'll see the whole horrible truth.

I'll talk to you later.

Squirrel Behavior

I've had comments over the years wondering what behavioral differences I've noticed in the different types of squirrels I've encountered. Most of these comments are from several years ago when I saw lots of squirrels running around out there. I had become somewhat of an authority on squirrels. It's too hard to just give my thoughts on these fun little critters as short answers in the comments section, so I decided to write a post about this very subject of squirrel behavior.

The first thing I want to say about it is that these are my own personal observations about squirrels in my old area in Michigan. It may be different for other squirrels in other places and environments, even though they seem about the same here in Iowa. The squirrels I encounter are all forest dwellers, so they're a little wilder than a typical neighborhood squirrel. So let's see what I've noticed about each of them!

I'll start with the fox squirrels. These are the most abundant squirrels in my area. I grew up with them in my neighborhoods, and they were also there in the forests I visited. I think the fox squirrels are the most outgoing of all the squirrels I've seen. They're not afraid to approach a human. And they will even seem to try to interact with me a little bit when they are brave enough to come close.

They seem very friendly, but they are feisty too so they can have a temper. They're not at all afraid to show their anger at a person, chattering away as if they're yelling angrily at you. They're also not quick to run away. They are perfectly willing to challenge any human if they feel the need.

The picture above is an eastern gray squirrel. I don't have much experience with them because they're not as common where I've been as they are other places. For that reason, I wrote a post some years back mistaking this one for a fox squirrel. That white eye ring gives it away as a gray though.

I soon began to see more of these gray squirrels. They seem a little more afraid of humans than the fox squirrels. That may be because they were not as numerous there as the fox squirrels are. I usually only caught glimpses of them in the thick bushes and trees. When they came out, they maintained a distance from me. The picture above is the best one for these grays that I have so far. He ran away soon after.

This next squirrel above is the mysterious black squirrel. His tail looks reddish because the sun is shining brightly from behind him.  These are actually just gray squirrels with black fur. They keep in tight-knit groups, but around my old forest they are numerous. I seem to have lived in the middle of one very large population of black squirrels. Not many people can say that.

Black squirrels there in the forest were very wary of humans. I almost never saw them up close. The ones I saw in my neighborhood were a little more outgoing. The forest blacks behave very similarly to the grays. The only difference is that there are too many black squirrels to stay hidden for long. They don't like to approach humans, and they run away to hide if they would see me watching them, even from a distance. These squirrels don't like to be alone though. Usually, if I see one black squirrel, there are more very near.

And lastly, there is the American red squirrel. These are the cutest squirrels I've ever seen. They are smaller than all the rest here. The fox squirrel being the largest is at least twice as big, while the grays and blacks are not quite as big as the foxes. I consider these reds to be the most intriguing little squirrels of all.

Red squirrels seem to be very solitary little creatures. I never see more than one at a time. All the others can be found together in groups at times. These reds also seem to be the most curious. They scare very easily though. They will run and hide, but soon you will see the squirrel pop its head out to look at you. Sometimes they will even come back to get a look before scurrying off again. This behavior seems to match chipmunks more than the other types of squirrel.

The only other type of squirrel I've heard of in places where I've lived is the flying squirrel. I have never seen one of them because they are nocturnal. One of those would be a wonderful sight to see though. Wouldn't it be great to see a squirrel gliding through the air?

This is my general observation on the species of squirrels I've encountered. I'm sure I could come up with more, but this probably covers it the best in blogging length. And like I said before, their behavior may be radically different where you live. Different environments can influence any animal's behavior. How do the squirrels behave where you live?

Thanks to everyone who has ever asked about squirrels. Those comments have always been much appreciated. I'll leave you today with a photo of a very curious, but wary, little red squirrel.

Th-th-th-that's all folks!

The Legendary Black Squirrel

Many of you have seen lots of squirrels before. But have you ever seen a black squirrel? These little critters are kind of rare. As far as I know you have to live in the United States to ever see one. And even then you might never get a look.

You might even live within a mile or two of these little guys and you'd never know they exist. They live in small communities and never seem to venture far from them. So far I've found them in exactly two places. I know there are more, but that's my personal experience.

I'll tell you that these dark little squirrels seem so mysterious just from their appearance. It's just that I never imagined that black squirrels existed until what is now many years ago when I finally saw my first one. I was just so amazed and excited to see that dark little figure running around my new neighborhood so long ago.

These two pictures of this black squirrel are the best I've ever taken. I was able to get these because I took a trip to a far away island where the squirrels are so numerous that they lounge around on the grass right alongside the human visitors to this strange and squirrely place. This is not a joke. It really happened.

That place has all of the major types of squirrels I've seen. And they are not afraid of humans even a little. When the squirrels saw me get out of my truck several of them came running up to greet me. I thought it was kind of creepy so I got back in the truck.

I was still able to get many excellent squirrel pictures. But I insisted on keeping my distance. I just don't think wild animals should be that comfortable with humans. I don't think it's good for them. Maybe I'm mistaken. I guess dogs were wild at one time too. Now they're our best friends. Who knows? Maybe one day we'll all have our own pet squirrels. I'll talk to you later.

The Old Man Of The Forest

I'd like to introduce you to Freeman. Freeman appears to be a very old squirrel of the fox variety. I guess you could say that he's the old man of the forest. He still gets around pretty well for an old man, but the signs of his age are still there nonetheless.

If you take a very close look just above his eyes you can see that the hair is just a little more gray than other fox squirrels might be. The rest of his fur also seems to be tinged with a little gray. His face has a bit of a weathered look that you might also find in very old human males.

Here's a special episode of Rat TV that features Freeman the wise old squirrel. He may not get around as well as some of the youngsters, but you'd never know it, you young whippersnapper! Videos can sometimes give us a better insight into these animals of the forest, especially the standouts like Freeman.

Take a look right behind his ears there. That is a patch of gray fur that Freeman is sporting. Also look at the top of his back and all over his tail. You can see a touch of gray all over him. I wonder how old this guy really is.

Take a look at Freeman's bent ears. I've seen old men with ears that look just like that. Sometimes these guys seem grumpy, but they really aren't. Stop and listen to what they have to say some time. They know a lot more than you do. A squirrel like Freeman could tell you how everything works.

Oh wait, I think he sees me! Hey there little guy...

"Hey there, you kid! Get off my lawn! ...Ah, wait a minute. Did I ever tell you about the time me and my brother took on five, no six, yup six other squirrels? They got too close to our tree and started running their mouths. I knocked out every last one of them, and my brother threw them in the ditch. It was one of the best times..."

Good old Freeman. I could listen to his stories for hours, but right now it's time to go. I'll talk to you later.

"Hey, you youngsters! Wash your ears or potatoes will start to grow from them!"

The Greedy Little Squirrel

I'm going to tell you a true story of a lone little squirrel and a bunch of big noisy geese. It all began at the front of the nature trail at a place called Berry Lake. About a dozen geese were milling around an as yet unknown small furry animal for some strange reason.

The geese would take turns honking at the poor little creature. Each one would move in close, then the little furry critter would let out a squeal and the lead goose would move back away. The geese all looked at the little animal with great envy, but the poor determined little creature held its ground. I wondered what the fuss was all about, so I moved in for a closer look.

And there I found a lone little squirrel hovering over what looked like a mound of cornbread. Some naughty human decided to feed these animals, and they were now fighting over their delicious prize. I didn't think this poor little squirrel had a chance at defending itself against the villainous geese. But the sweet little squirrel had a secret.

Only the little squirrel knew it, but the dainty little squirrel was really half greedy pig. Oink!

The geese only wanted their share of the yummy cornbread. But the greedy little squirrel was hoarding it, and he just wouldn't share.

When the big scary human in the creepy rat suit moved in closer the sweet little piggish squirrel leaped to his feet! The squirrel would defend his food against anything or anyone. The human was at least smart enough to keep a little bit of distance because the kind little squirrel was acting very mean and aggressive now.

But even though the squirrel was determined to steal all of the cornbread for himself, he knew when he was defeated. All of those geese, and now a rat suited human were all too much to defend his prize against. So the cute little squirrel grabbed up as much of his prize as he could and prepared to run.

Before he left, the courageous little squirrel looked up at the evil human so he could grin in triumph, but his mouth was just too full of cornbread to pull off this feat. So the sweet little squirrel gathered as much of his dignity as he could muster and he fled into the trees.

The End

A Very Squirrely Christmas

Here's a special Christmas present from me to you. This picture is for all of you who have decided to visit me on Christmas. Click on the picture to make it bigger for the best effect. Take a close look at Santa's reindeer. There's something very strange about them.

Merry Christmas everybody!

The Friendly Little Red Squirrel

#wildlife #pictures I'm revisiting an older post with a friendly little squirrel I found at one of the larger nature parks near me. I was known for my squirrel posts back around this time. Read on and you'll see that there's a reason this particular squirrel was so friendly.

Why is this little Red Squirrel standing there so expectantly? It saw humans on this busy park walkway and thought there would be a free meal of piles and piles of sunflower seeds. And did the little squirrel get that expected meal? Yes, but not from me.

It seems that the squirrels at this section of Kensington Metropark are fed regularly by the humans that walk by. Not only the squirrels, but chipmunks and birds are fed as well. So you might guess what kind of behavior we get to see out of these normally wild creatures.

This is what you get. These creatures have decided that humans are a good thing to have around. They come running right up when they see someone slow down on the trail at this section. They know exactly what kind of human behavior to watch for.

There were at least a dozen animals that came right up to me and begged for food. This squirrel was just one of several other red squirrels that came right up to me, begging at my feet. The Chipmunks were just as bold. There was at least one Nuthatch that wanted in on the action as well, hopping along on the ground with the others.

There are so many of these animals, and some waited so patiently, that I have plenty of video for you from this adventure. So this episode of Rat TV is of a chubby little red squirrel that kept coming right up to me begging and pleading for seeds.

There are more videos, of course. One of which is the Cool Nature Video over at Nature Center Magazine today. The squirrels in that video aren't peaceful and happy at all. No, they are very angry little monsters. They won't tolerate any other animals coming near them, growling at all that are near. They even get angry at one another. They actually begin brawling right there on the sidewalk!

But here's little chubby again, happily coming over to hopefully beg for seeds. This little squirrel is either pregnant or is just getting more than its share of seeds that are thrown down. You can see what I'm talking about more clearly in the video. It is a cute little girl though. I like squirrels.

I got a lot of video this time, maybe more than even the pictures. There were just so many animals here, and they were all moving around so fast. Fast is usually easy for me, but not when the animals are running around my feet like bratty little children. The bratty kind are the best, you know. I'll talk to you later.


Nature Center Magazine - Come see a video game style brawl, with squirrels! Watch as the champion takes on all challengers in this knock down drag out fight to the finish! LLLet's Get Ready To Squirrelll!!!

A Tall Tale Or Just A Whopping Lie?

I just have to come right out and say it. I lied. I'm a terrible liar. I lied in my last post. I never went on a pokemon hunt at all. In fact, I've never played the game. I've never even seen it. I have a wonderful phone, but my operating system just isn't one of the popular ones that can get this game. So I lied to make myself look cool.

I have another confession that you just won't believe. Wait for it. It's a shocker. I never even broke my leg. See, I knew you'd think it was unbelievable. Now that I've confessed you'll never believe again that a broken leg can heal after two weeks. What will the world do with that information?

So how can you ever trust my word again? Well, the simple answer is that you can't. I lie all the time. I can't say that I don't enjoy it, because I do. But I also tell the honest truth much of the time. So you can never know which is which, what's a lie and what's the truth. Does that make me like a devil? Or just a guy who enjoys wearing a rat suit far too much?

I've said before that my love of this rat suit has long passed. I would have taken it off long ago, but the zipper seems to be stuck and every time I try to ask someone to help me get it they run away screaming for some reason.

I never really thought that wandering around through the forest in a rat suit would be seen as strange, or even demented. But after some of the reactions I get, maybe I miscalculated just a bit. I still get some good pictures sometimes though, don't you think?

(I'll still swear today that a talking squirrel named Flynn took the picture above.)

If you see this guy coming at you in the forest, run for your life. The last thing you'll hear is a high pitched little voice saying, "Hold still, I'm gonna make you famous."

But this is where I have beaten him. I moved far away. Far away from crazy little adventurer squirrels armed with their own cameras. In fact, I haven't seen a squirrel in months. But now because of my cowardice even the birds are ashamed to look at the guy in the Ratty old rat suit. So I have to catch them off guard to get any good pictures.

I'll say this. Even though I saw so many squirrels in the past that they began speaking to me, none of these robins have uttered a word. So far anyway. Their mocking body language is enough for them I guess. They think they're smarter than me, but I have the last laugh. It's them you see in the pictures, not me. Except for that one picture up there I guess.

So after all of that, even though it was all the truth, and I confessed to being one of the biggest liars of all time, do you believe my story? I swear it's all true. It all happened. Except that pokemon hunt of course. Oh, and that broken leg. And maybe a few other details. But it's the truth. Really it is. And I have the pictures to prove it.

Maybe in my next post, if I'm on the right medication, I'll get back to my normal serious posts. But maybe this is normal. If you check out a few of my old posts you'll see that maybe I was always like this. Don't be afraid. I'll talk to you later.

One Of My Favorite Subjects

I'm back after having a few problems away from my blog. After many power outages over the last little while my computer's operating system became so unstable that I ended up having to reinstall the whole thing. After that I got a little sick again from complications from my old car accident. It happens every once in a while, so I just deal with it when it does. I just move on when I'm fine again.

So since I've been gone for much too long I decided to come back with a favorite type of animal of mine. When I was in Michigan I used to post about squirrels maybe more than anything else. Their feisty little personalities are just so great to talk about.

I only see fox squirrels here, like the big guy you see in my pictures, but back in Michigan I saw several kinds. There were these fox squirrels, gray squirrels, red squirrels, and even black squirrels. Each type of squirrel has their own personality traits. I've done in-depth posts about their traits in the past so I'll just let you search the blog if you want to know more. If enough of you are interested though I'll do a future post about that stuff.

Today I want to talk a little bit, just a little bit, about this particular squirrel in my pictures. There's one reason, and one reason alone, that I took his picture. This is the squirrel that keeps raiding my bird feeder.

So, you ask, if he's raiding your bird feeder then what's he doing in that tree? Well I'm going to tell you. It was only seconds before I took these pictures that I chased him away from the feeder. He ran halfway to the tree and then stopped, waiting for me to leave so he could come right back to stealing the bird seed.

I wasn't going to put up with that so I set the dog on him! Only to scare him away, of course. That's when he went up the tree. That wasn't the end of him though, no! He got up in that tree and stared down at me waiting for me to take the dog back inside. What a smart little jerk.

The squirrel maneuvered around the tree until he got a nice place to watch from. I wasn't defeated so easily though. I left the dog out there. She saw the squirrel up there too. She really hates that squirrel. They've argued constantly since I moved here. I even have an old video on the blog somewhere of one of those arguments, the squirrel chattering at the dog and the dog barking at the squirrel. I'm sure it's the same squirrel.

This time after a few hours of the dog waiting on the porch for the squirrel to come down the squirrel finally gave up and left. I won this time! That's something that doesn't happen often for most people. Squirrels are relentless little critters.

So that's the end. I hope to be a little quicker with my next post. While writing this one I realized that I have plenty more stuff to post. I just have to figure out what to do first after this one. I guess I'll just have to figure it out. I'll talk to you later.

Uh Oh, A New Visitor

As you can see, I have a new visitor at the feeder. The strange distortions in front of the squirrel on the picture are nose prints from my dog. She was going crazy trying to get at that squirrel. It took her awhile, but she's now okay with the birds, but my dog hates that squirrel.

These are from some of my first sightings of this squirrel, but it has now been coming for a few weeks. As I expected, this little thief is driving me crazy. It's almost relentless in its quest for the food in my bird feeder. It has been so bad that for awhile I thought trying to feed the birds was over. This squirrel has eaten two feeders full of seed and stolen three suet cakes.

Even though I knew I was in a losing battle, I began to develop a plan. The squirrel gets up earlier than I do, so I can't always catch it out there, but the birds don't come to the feeder at night. My solution was to bring the feeder inside at night and take it back out in the morning. When the squirrel comes to the feeder, which is almost immediately, I let the dog out. The squirrel always gets away, but sometimes doesn't come back for the rest of the day.

Honestly I wouldn't mind if the squirrel ate some of the food, but it eats so much that I can't keep enough out there for it. I mostly keep it away, but it still gets its share. And of course the birds don't come around when the squirrel is there. The good thing is that they're still coming after the dog runs the squirrel off.

With the warm weather I'm guessing that I won't get many new birds at the feeder, so I'm going to have to finally get up and get back to my normal adventures. The bird feeder is fun because I like posting about animals, but soon I'll have to get back to hiking through the nature parks again.

I don't see as many animals at the parks here in Iowa as I did in Michigan. The animals have many more places to hide here than they did there. I miss the animals. Maybe I'll have to learn about some of the plants here too to make up for not as many animal sightings. Plants are a difficult subject for me, but I've learned in the past. I guess I'll find out what happens. It should be fun. I'll talk to you later.

A Time Traveling Black Squirrel

It sure doesn't feel like it was very long ago but I guess it really was. These pictures of the black squirrel are from 2010. I remember the day I took them now, but I lost them before I could post them. I have no idea how it happened.

I was recently going through my posts list on Blogger and I found these in the drafts list. I was amazed by what I found. I guess I was posting so much stuff back then that these just got lost in the shuffle. Back then I was posting something here every day.

I remember finding this squirrel up in the trees that day. I marveled at how high up in the tree it was and how it could cling to such small branches. It seemed like those small branches wouldn't be able to hold it's weight, but they did just fine.

I don't think these others are the same squirrel as the first one. There were so many of these black squirrels running around through that forest back then. The great thing about that place was the great variety of squirrels to be found. It had everything.

I remember this particular black squirrel above. it was kind of slithering down the side of the tree. Squirrels are funny little creatures. There's no telling just what kind of goofy thing they might do next. And each one has its own little personality.

This was an early March day. The buds were just barely starting on the trees. you can't really even tell by most of these pictures. back then I'd go out in all kinds of weather and all year long. I remember one time going out in the rain to check on the goose eggs I'd been watching.

The most elusive of these black squirrels, which I don't have any pictures of today, were the ones with white spots on them. These black squirrels are really black colored gray squirrels. When they are black they sometimes also develop white spots. Some of them can even be fully white.

 I've learned quite a lot about squirrels over the years of my blogging and nature adventures. That's why I miss them so much. today I only see a few fox squirrels here and there, but I used to see many different kinds every day. Those were the good old days. I'll talk to you later.

The Dog And The Squirrel

Lots of nature stuff has been happening around my house recently. I've been seeing birds, rabbits, and all sorts of other things as well. I don't necessarily have pictures of everything, but I've had some fun. Here's the story of just one of the little incidents around here. 

My dog Isabella was outside barking at some unknown thing, as usual, when I heard another sound coming from out there. It turned out to be the sound of a chattering squirrel. I went to the front door to see what was going on and saw the dog looking up into one of my big trees.

I went out onto the porch and looked up into the tree to see this angry squirrel looking down at the dog. The squirrel was chattering away at her while she barked back. For some reason my dog and squirrels love to get into arguments.

I have a post from a few years ago where she and a squirrel are arguing. I even have a video I shot that day if you'd like to see this funny incident. It's always possible it's the very same squirrel. This is the same tree that older squirrel was in.

Isabella has had many adventures with the squirrels in my two big trees out front. She's always arguing with them or chasing them. She's never been able to catch any of them yet, but she sure does try, and they sure love to antagonize her. They all may be the very same squirrel.

Anyway, today's squirrel finally got tired of chattering and began to think better of it. And besides, I was the only one left on the porch to yell at. So it did the only thing it could think of. It tried to hide behind the branch it was sitting on. I felt sorry for the poor thing so I went back inside.

But the story wasn't quite over.

You see, Isabella is a very intelligent dog. While I was taking my pictures, Isabella ran over to the base of that tree and waited for the squirrel to come down. Luckily for the squirrel it was smart enough not to fall for that trick, but it hasn't been so smart in the past. Isabella knows her stuff. She's a very skilled hunter.

She lurked around the base of that tree until it was apparent that the squirrel wasn't coming down. The good thing for the squirrel is that it can travel through many trees from this one. it used to be able to travel a very long distance until my neighbor cut down a few of the trees in the back. The squirrels can still get pretty far.

Oh well, if I keep rambling on I'll never stop, so I guess I'll leave it at that for today. I'll talk to you later.