Squirrels… are…amazing!!
I have been spending more time lately getting to know my plant and animal neighbors. It’s helped me feel a lot less lonely during this lengthy time of pandemic isolation.
Lately I have become captivated by squirrels.
I think it all started one day when I was out on a stroll through the neighborhood and a squirrel caught my attention. She was hanging out at the edge of a driveway with a peanut in her mouth. I stopped in my tracks in the middle of the street and watched.
Watched as she meandered to the closest patch of dirt under a tree and dug a hole.
Abandoned it.
Dug another hole. So deep half her body disappeared into the earth. She emerged a moment later sans peanut.
Then, with such incredible precision and care, she gently pushed all the dirt back into the hole with her tiny little hands.
HOW in the world, I wondered (and still do), does she know where to go to find all of her treasures she has buried?
If I had to find food I had squirreled away (OH — that’s where that comes from!!) in miscellaneous place months ago I would likely starve.
The squirrel fascination continued weeks later as I watched two squirrels chase each other around the huge evergreen in my back yard. Round and around they both went at lightening quick speed.
Suddenly, they both stopped.
From my vantage point I could see the one on my side of the trunk — body spread wide, clinging to the side of the tree in anticipation. From the back side of the tree the other squirrel was very slowly peaking her head around the side trying to spot her friend. This went on for at least a minute, slowly inching her head around trying to find her playmate.
I had no idea squirrels played hide and seek!! How delightful.
Finally they made eye contact and they were off like a flash, chasing each other around the tree yet again.
Since then I’ve taken to watching them when I can. Squirrels are QUITE amazing. Their feats of agility are extraordinary. I watched a squirrel jump from unsteady branch in one tree onto a branch in another tree which bounced with the added weight. He didn’t miss a beat. From tree to tree to fence top to porch. The acrobatic feats made me a little jealous.
I wish I could cling to the side of a tree with nothing but my hands and feet. I wonder if squirrel-envy inspired the birth of Spiderman.
Then, to top off the amazing feats of awesomeness, AND to make me feel all the more inferior for my own ability to merely walk, skip, and jump… My best friend introduced me to to Mark Rober and his squirrel video. Which if you have not seen, you simply must watch.
So, I recommend spending some time getting to know the neighbors you might have forgotten you have. They are all incredible.
And in case you didn’t know, SQUIRRELS ARE AMAZING. I recommend watching their amazing acrobatics and developing your own case of acrobatic envy. Perhaps you too shall be inspired to take parkour lessons.
