Squirrels are everywhere this time of year. Fall is a wonderful time to observe birds and squirrels, because they are not hidden anymore by the leaves on the trees. Squirrels will sometimes remind me of Christmas shoppers; they scurry up the trees and down the trees, looking for nuts or a place to hide them.
The squirrels on our property are crazy. They are hunting for as many nuts as they can find for storing away. On our farm, it is mostly acorns and black walnuts that the squirrels gather to hide away for later. Just walking out to the car can cause them to scurry up the trunk of our maple tree. Sometimes the squirrels will run up the tree to a limb and just sit there watching me, with an acorn in its mouth. Then there are times when a squirrel will run up the tree and chirp down at me. Other times, a squirrel will run up the tree and jump to another tree; I don’t know if the squirrel is hiding from me or hiding the nut.
We have electric lines that run along the front of our property. It is not unusual to look out the bedroom window and see a squirrel scurrying along the line to its destination. It does not notice me, because it is too busy worrying about where it is headed.
Now that the leaves have all fallen off the trees on to the ground, I notice the squirrels digging under the leaves. They suddenly pop up their heads, look around and then go back under the leaves. Sometimes I see a squirrel pop up from the leaves with a nut in its mouth, and then it runs off with the nut.
I have enjoyed watching the squirrels scurry through out the gardens, always looking for food. The squirrels need to be on the lookout, because our cats are ferocious squirrel hunters. We have found on our porch, on more than one occasion, squirrel skins with the tails attached. Our cats clean everything. But they really need to watch out for the cars. They usually do, but the other day, on the way home from Thanksgiving, a squirrel stopped in the middle of the road with a nut in its mouth. It did not know which way to go; it was stuck in the middle between two cars at a stop sign. Finally, after a few seconds, it walked, not scurried, to one side. I don’t know how long that squirrel will last.
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