Experience is a Doorway, Not a Final Destination- Oswald Chambers

Thursday, January 21

In Honor of the Squirrels

I've always been an animal lover and have fond memories of my interactions with local wildlife.

Like that time that the male llama decided that he would chase after the female at the exact moment I was standing nearby. The spit that came out of that mouth and coated my hair could clean the dirt off the faces of 25 kids.

Or that time that I opened the side door and a black racer slid into the garage. He slithered into my dryer and it took an hour for Lynn and Audra to coax it out. I didn't know whether to laugh or scream. (Ask the witnesses, I think I did both simultaneously).

But the animal that I have the most history with is probably the squirrel. I was informed this morning by Betsy that today is Squirrel Appreciation Day. Who knows why there is a day in recognition of these critters, but I couldn't get the thought out of my mind.

I grew up in Indiana where the squirrels are fat, bushy and cute. As a child we had a game with our family dog where we would yell, "Squirrel!" and he'd chase after the fox squirrels in the backyard.

And we ate them too. Yes, we are true Indiana country folk. My only hunting experience was hunting for fox squirrels with my father. Yum.

When I moved to Florida I found out that not all squirrels are the same. Orlando squirrels are like rats with thinned out hair on their tails. These tails remind me of my seventh grade science teacher's head. He had a comb over. I was not fooled by the wispy plastered hair. I knew he was bald just like I know the squirrels down here are really rats with a comb over.

I stepped out of my car at work one morning, and to my amazement, one of these bizarre creatures had a whole 6 inch Subway sandwich in his mouth. That same week I witnessed a squirrel rotating an apple core in its paws like it was corn on the cob.

I would lay out some food for these comb-over rats to honor them on their day, but I have a feeling that Florida squirrels prefer to fend for themselves.

5 comments:

Karla said...

Love it!

Anonymous said...

were u talking about mr. roberts???? b/c he was 6th grade science...

ash

allisongraber said...

Mr. Bennett was my 6th Grade science teacher. You know what, I think the teacher I am thinking of (I am not going to mention names) was actually my 8th grade science teacher. I think he retired before you got to his class.

Anonymous said...

Maybe that's why we loved "Christmas Vacation" so much! "SQUIRREL!!!"

Mom said...

Maybe that's why we loved "Christmas Vacation" so much! "SQUIRREL!"