Squirrels!!

Well I was gonna start with a more common picture of a squirrel but when an image search turned up this beauty I just couldn't resist posting it! I haven't done a rant type post or talked about life in general for a while and this post struck me as an opportunity to do both without being too dull or aggressive - we'll see how things go.

Squirrels are a common feature of my life, given that one or two will visit my garden on a more or less daily basis. They gain access via a tall tree which connects to a tall hedge which connects to some small apple trees which connect to our lawn - all easily traversed with a squirel's natural agility. So common is this intrusion that it's hard to think of life without it and odd to speak to more urban folks who don't have bushy tailed visitors like we do.

While the squirels are very cute, especially in photographs, nature documentaries and Grosvenor Park(?) in Chester where they gladly come and eat nuts out of your hand, they do represent a problem and can be something of a pest. In my younger years I was an avid reader of nature books and attended various clobs which taught how the common greay squirrel has drive the much more attractive red squirrel into near extinction in our isles - something which needs to be addressed. The problem they represent in our garden is that they view the bird feeders as a ready source of food. Why these feeders should remain exclusive to avian visitors is not quite clear, but nonetheless squirrels go for them and are often particularly aggresive when they do so, mauling the containers open and scattering the precious grain to the floor. It is notoriously difficult to make things squirrel proof as they are seemingly born to be able to break into things - there seems to be nothing they can't climg up, swing down, hang upside down off or stuff their little faces into!! I also noticed recently that they produce a noise which seems to represent Daffy Duck being strangled to death and not the cute squaks you'd expect. All this makes them a dominating and annoying figure in the garden and they need to be warded away.

Which is where the fun starts! A cry of "Squirrels!" will drive our dog into a frenzy of speed unlike anything else. Commands like "Walkies", "Outside", "Biscuit" or "Hooshagabooshywa" will certainly increase his pace and have him barking and jumping around. But "Squirrels" puts him on an alert level and sends him scurrying into the garden at speeds no other command can produce. This is always amusing to see, especially when he heads for the base of the large tree (the common source of squirrels) and misses the nearby squirrel completely!! He has never caught a squirrel yet and we doubt he'd know what to do if he did, but it's good to watch.

So Squirrels: a cute pest that can be very amusing!!

Word of the post: Murine - adjective

pertaining to or resembling a mouse or rat

Edit: The word of the post is a random choice, picked from a list I add to as an when words take my fancy, given my negativity towards squirrels in this article this posts's word is a bit of a coincidence!!