Wind River wrote:
> RobinArmstrong wrote:
>> Wind River wrote:
>>
>>> Tim wrote:
>>>
>>>> Wind River <wind_river@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in
>>>> news:5locvoF8v7jvU1@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>>>
>>>>> Village Sharpener wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> Tim wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> [...]
>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Happy Autumn, everyone!
>>>>>>> Tim
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Thanks Tim,
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Joe from New England (Massachusetts).
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Maples are just starting to turn outside my shop window.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> I'm jealous.
>>>>>
>>>>> I've been back in Florida for the last couple of years to be near
>>>>> my parents who are both in their eighties now. I really miss the
cool
>>>>> days of autumn with the brightly colored falling leaves and busy
>>>>> squirrels and chipmunks.
>>>>>
>>>>> WR
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Squirrels just frighten me anymore. When I was a kid, they'd run
away.
>>>> Nowadays, I open the door and they just sit on my stoop and give me a
>>>> bad look. I know it's just an urban legend, but I really do believe
>>>> they're all chewing on crack vials.
>>>
>>>
>>> I hear there's a market for squirrel tattoo parlors, too. I suppose
>>> it helps them promote their Bad Squirrel image.
>>>
>>> WR
>>
>>
>> We have squirrels at the bird feeders every morning, eating their fill
>> and just leaving samples for the intended recipients. This drives my
>> husband crazy, but I just assume squirrels get hungry, too. One of
>> our squirrels is pure white, not albino, just white, and there is a
>> silver squirrel, too, that may be a cross between the white and the
gray.
>>
>> When I'm out walking, I stop under a walnut tree and pick up the ones
>> on the ground to take home to put out for "my" squirrels. My daughter
>> enjoys watching a squirrel running away with a nut in its mouth. My
>> husband says the smart squirrels who built their nests by the walnut
>> tree will starve this winter while the lazy "welfare class" squirrels
>> I have created are just finding the nuts with no effort or forethought
>> at all. There will be generations of squirrels raised in our backyard
>> who have no idea how to gather food on their own.
>
> They aren't welfare squirrels; they're intelligent squirrels. Besides,
> in return for your kindness, they bring you immense enjoyment and
> entertainment. The white and silver ones sound really beautiful.
>
> Don't tell you're husband, but when I lived in areas where squirrels
> were more abundant, I used to buy cans of inexpensive nuts to give them
> special treats, and I also used to pick up black walnuts to bring home
> to them.
>
> WR
Thanks for this vote of support, Wind River. I'm glad I'm not the only
nut gatherer!
When I was in school, my roommate and I had a great apartment--the
entire second floor of an old mansion near the university. One spring,
a mother squirrel built her nest right outside my roommate's office
window. We had fun watching the two baby squirrels grow up, and we
didn't want the mother to have to leave them to go out scavenging, so we
looked the kitchen and found "college girl" treats for her--shelled
pecans, Stella Dora breadsticks, Cheez-its, etc. When the babies were
old enough to eat on their own, they just came to the window sill for
food, too. Then a co-worker (who shares my husband's attitudes) told me
I shouldn't be doing this, that the squirrels needed to learn to forage
on their own. We stopped feeding them, and one morning, my roommate
called me at my job to say "I just woke up with a squirrel in my bed!"
One of the babies, not finding food, had decided to chew through the
screen and discover where the stash was. Roomie was hysterical and
called animal control who came to collect the little guy and transport
him to a local park.
By the way, Wind River, I have to thank you for something from a long
time ago, when you posted the link to ordering an ocarina with the Zelda
games song book. Both of my kids received one that Christmas, and my
daughter really took to it, quickly learning all the songs, then
improvising variations on them and learning other video game music by
ear. When it was time to join the school band, she decided to play
flute, because that was "the instrument closest to an ocarina." She has
become a very good flute player and was accepted in the state honors
band last year. Isn't it fun seeing the impact just little kindnesses
can have?
Deb
|
