Invasion of the nut snatchers...
They’re hanging there. All by their little toesies… Three of ‘em, in fact. In the big tree across the street. It’s a maple tree and the leaves are starting to change from green to red and redish orange. It’s going to be beautiful! It always is… I love fall in New England. The riot of colors and flaming trees are a joy to behold. It may be the beginning of an end, but Autumn does not go out quietly. She makes a statement and she is bold!
Oh, that’s right… I was talking about the squirrels. The three squirrels who are currently hanging upside down by their little toesies whilst munching contentedly on maple seeds. They’re out there on the very tips of the branches and the limbs they are a shakin’! I’m ready to have a heart attack.
They’re hanging upside down! Straight up and down…upside down!! How the heck can they do that? And how the heck can they eat upside down? Have you ever tried to eat upside down? I find it hard enough just to use a drinking fountain. And that’s rightside up. Ever tried swallowing pills while drinking from a drinking fountain? It’s nigh unto impossible.
But I digress… The squirrels, the little buggers who are currently hanging upside down on the tips of the branches and shaking them all to pieces, have been especially active these past days, scurrying hither and yon with nuts, apples and the like in their sharp little teeth and claws. They’re busy ‘setting their stores’ for the winter, burying their booty wherever they can and it beats me how they know where to dig to find it all again. If the tales told by the old Yanks around here are to be believed, we’re going to be in for a doozey of a winter this year. It’s been said that a lot of squirrel activity in the early fall indicates a lot of snow for the winter. We’ll see… The skiers will be ecstatic.
These squirrels are resourceful little critters. Amusing too. There’s one…who when he isn’t hanging from the tips of the branches upside down and frazzling my nerves, performs exquisite little flips and cartwheels on the lawn of the house across the street. That’s where all these squirrel gymnastics have been taking place…across the street.
As I sit here at the computer in the corner, by the window of what used to be our master bedroom but has now been transformed into my stamping studio instead, I can see the whole show. I’m on the 2nd floor, giving me a great vantage point. He flip-flops all over the place just like a certain current Presidential hopeful we know but he’s much more entertaining.
This squirrel has a house of his own…in fact, he is master (or possibly mistress) rent-free, of the house across the street,with the lawn where the big tree is that he and his buddies are currently frollicking in. That house also has students from the college who rent apartments in it. It is falling into fabulous disrepair and that little squirrel hasn’t missed his opportunity for free accomodations. Some years ago a small hole appeared right at the apex of the roof ridgeline, in the front. After awhile, with a little help from birds and previous squirrels (real ones I mean, not the college variety) and water, wind and fate, the hole became bigger and a true source of entertainment for us. It has been enormous fun to watch the process.
The birds were the first. It was a mystery in the beginning as to how the hole enlarged itself, seemingly overnight. But then after watching the nesting materials being transported in and out of the elements by the birds, into the hole and then out, we’d see the birds perch on the roofline and bend over and rub their beaks across the perimeter of the hole to sharpen them. And then, to further hone the process, they began ‘picking’ at the hole and the edges of the roof, eventually widening the gateway to their penthouse.
When one family of birds would vacate the premises another type would immediately move in and repeat the renovation process. Sometimes they would overlap a bit which caused a territorial dispute. The seasons have been full of variety. But things really got interesting when need drove the squirrels to investigate…
You see, several large trees in the neighborhood have been taken down over the past two years because they were so old and rotten and a lot of critters got dispossessed in the process. Not ones to stand around whining and visiting the social services agencies, the critters began to take things into their own hands, uh…paws. When the squirrels gathered their belongings and moved into “the hole” it got enlarged post haste. Don’t tell anyone…but since the students had been so dad-blamed annoying in the middle of the night, causing us to be more than a little disgruntled, we took to cheering every time the hole got enlarged noticeably.
After awhile other parts of the roofline (just under the shingles) started looking scratched and broken, sporting spaces and signs of habitation by the wildlife (the furry and feathered types, not the college variety). Soon, every afternoon around 4:30 pm a squirrel would appear in the “main hole,” so regularly I could set my watch by it. It would poke it’s grungy, vermin ridden little head, front paws and shoulders out of “the hole” and literally hang out to survey the neighborhood ‘goings on’ for about an hour.
It was so comical. I was bitterly disappointed when after all these years, the danged house got sold and the new owners sent a skinny old guy on a rickety ladder up to the top of the ridge to put a silly looking, inadequate and totally annoying patch on “the hole,” or the “main hole” as we had begun to refer to it. I thought they might spring for a complete renovation which would displace my amusing little friends once again. But as much as that place needs refurbishing (gosh knows, we’ve wished for a long time that they would fix it up), I felt a moment of sadness when that old guy ascended that ladder. Hah! I needn’t have worried.
After the old batch of college miscreants moved out, the new owners got busy and painted the inside from stem to stern and installed new carpeting. Then when our guard was down and our hopes were up, or perhaps because they were tired or broke, they started showing the place once again to another round of animals...I mean students. Sigh…
I think that might be the extent of the renovations for now and, I am happy to say, the squirrels take the day… Earlier I saw one of them, probably the foremost acrobatic one, scrunch himself up to snuggle into “the next biggest hole” which is halfway down the fascia of the roof. It promises to be an interesting winter. That is, it will be if those facile little squirrels, hanging by their toesies, upside down…don’t fall and break their little ‘headsies!’
Oh, that’s right… I was talking about the squirrels. The three squirrels who are currently hanging upside down by their little toesies whilst munching contentedly on maple seeds. They’re out there on the very tips of the branches and the limbs they are a shakin’! I’m ready to have a heart attack.
They’re hanging upside down! Straight up and down…upside down!! How the heck can they do that? And how the heck can they eat upside down? Have you ever tried to eat upside down? I find it hard enough just to use a drinking fountain. And that’s rightside up. Ever tried swallowing pills while drinking from a drinking fountain? It’s nigh unto impossible.
But I digress… The squirrels, the little buggers who are currently hanging upside down on the tips of the branches and shaking them all to pieces, have been especially active these past days, scurrying hither and yon with nuts, apples and the like in their sharp little teeth and claws. They’re busy ‘setting their stores’ for the winter, burying their booty wherever they can and it beats me how they know where to dig to find it all again. If the tales told by the old Yanks around here are to be believed, we’re going to be in for a doozey of a winter this year. It’s been said that a lot of squirrel activity in the early fall indicates a lot of snow for the winter. We’ll see… The skiers will be ecstatic.
These squirrels are resourceful little critters. Amusing too. There’s one…who when he isn’t hanging from the tips of the branches upside down and frazzling my nerves, performs exquisite little flips and cartwheels on the lawn of the house across the street. That’s where all these squirrel gymnastics have been taking place…across the street.
As I sit here at the computer in the corner, by the window of what used to be our master bedroom but has now been transformed into my stamping studio instead, I can see the whole show. I’m on the 2nd floor, giving me a great vantage point. He flip-flops all over the place just like a certain current Presidential hopeful we know but he’s much more entertaining.
This squirrel has a house of his own…in fact, he is master (or possibly mistress) rent-free, of the house across the street,with the lawn where the big tree is that he and his buddies are currently frollicking in. That house also has students from the college who rent apartments in it. It is falling into fabulous disrepair and that little squirrel hasn’t missed his opportunity for free accomodations. Some years ago a small hole appeared right at the apex of the roof ridgeline, in the front. After awhile, with a little help from birds and previous squirrels (real ones I mean, not the college variety) and water, wind and fate, the hole became bigger and a true source of entertainment for us. It has been enormous fun to watch the process.
The birds were the first. It was a mystery in the beginning as to how the hole enlarged itself, seemingly overnight. But then after watching the nesting materials being transported in and out of the elements by the birds, into the hole and then out, we’d see the birds perch on the roofline and bend over and rub their beaks across the perimeter of the hole to sharpen them. And then, to further hone the process, they began ‘picking’ at the hole and the edges of the roof, eventually widening the gateway to their penthouse.
When one family of birds would vacate the premises another type would immediately move in and repeat the renovation process. Sometimes they would overlap a bit which caused a territorial dispute. The seasons have been full of variety. But things really got interesting when need drove the squirrels to investigate…
You see, several large trees in the neighborhood have been taken down over the past two years because they were so old and rotten and a lot of critters got dispossessed in the process. Not ones to stand around whining and visiting the social services agencies, the critters began to take things into their own hands, uh…paws. When the squirrels gathered their belongings and moved into “the hole” it got enlarged post haste. Don’t tell anyone…but since the students had been so dad-blamed annoying in the middle of the night, causing us to be more than a little disgruntled, we took to cheering every time the hole got enlarged noticeably.
After awhile other parts of the roofline (just under the shingles) started looking scratched and broken, sporting spaces and signs of habitation by the wildlife (the furry and feathered types, not the college variety). Soon, every afternoon around 4:30 pm a squirrel would appear in the “main hole,” so regularly I could set my watch by it. It would poke it’s grungy, vermin ridden little head, front paws and shoulders out of “the hole” and literally hang out to survey the neighborhood ‘goings on’ for about an hour.
It was so comical. I was bitterly disappointed when after all these years, the danged house got sold and the new owners sent a skinny old guy on a rickety ladder up to the top of the ridge to put a silly looking, inadequate and totally annoying patch on “the hole,” or the “main hole” as we had begun to refer to it. I thought they might spring for a complete renovation which would displace my amusing little friends once again. But as much as that place needs refurbishing (gosh knows, we’ve wished for a long time that they would fix it up), I felt a moment of sadness when that old guy ascended that ladder. Hah! I needn’t have worried.
After the old batch of college miscreants moved out, the new owners got busy and painted the inside from stem to stern and installed new carpeting. Then when our guard was down and our hopes were up, or perhaps because they were tired or broke, they started showing the place once again to another round of animals...I mean students. Sigh…
I think that might be the extent of the renovations for now and, I am happy to say, the squirrels take the day… Earlier I saw one of them, probably the foremost acrobatic one, scrunch himself up to snuggle into “the next biggest hole” which is halfway down the fascia of the roof. It promises to be an interesting winter. That is, it will be if those facile little squirrels, hanging by their toesies, upside down…don’t fall and break their little ‘headsies!’
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