squirrels on the brain

It seems that the colder it gets, the more frantic the squirrels in our neighborhood become. They aren't just running out into the street in front of our car and bike tires anymore. They're finding new ways to get their adrenaline rush, and it is crazy.

Sam was heading back to work after lunch the other day when he stopped on our back steps to tell me something. At one point during his story, I looked down, and there was squirrel on the step below where Sam was standing. It nonchalantly walked passed Sam and over to the pot of lemongrass I had sitting in the sun, where it dug a hole, placed the nut it had been carrying into the hole, and very carefully patted the dirt back into place. The whole time, Sam was less than a foot away.

Yesterday, Sam came home after work and told me to look out the window at the red pickup truck in the neighboring parking lot. He said that as he was riding through the parking lot he thought he saw the muffler on that red truck moving. It turns out that a squirrel was hanging on to the muffler with the front half of his body halfway into the tailpipe. I bet he was hiding nuts there too.

Well, good luck, squirrels, because it's going to be a long winter.