Just on the cusp of the New Year, we rented an old Victorian house in Chester, NY with it's old, Victorian oak trees. At about the same times each day, mid-morning and mid-afternoon-ish, a gray squirrel made its way around the grounds, returning to an almost perfect home in a hole along the trunk of a very old tree. In fact, he had two cozy spots, with a branch/porch in between. It would typically scurry first to the one on the right, sit for a bit on its porch, then peak into the one on the left. I imagine he had one stuffed with nuts for the winter, the other with whatever warm and soft scraps he could find. I say "almost perfect" because at the time we observed it, it had clearly been busy bulking itself up for the cold winter. While it could quickly scurry up and down the trunk, physically fitting into the hole was a challenge. But it persevered, giving a few last, strong pushes with it's feet, mid-air, to get entirely safely inside. It fit. Barely.
Having grown up on the East Coast, I never thought much about squirrels. Then, a Japanese friend of mine was visiting me at my parents' house in Massachusetts and couldn't get over her delight at seeing them. 'Squirrel' is also really difficult to say for non-native English speakers, so we got pretty giggly about her excitement and attempts to pronounce the word. Japan has some really amazing squirrels of its own, though less ubiquitous than here in the States.
Just on the cusp of the New Year, we rented an old Victorian house in Chester, NY with it's old, Victorian oak trees. At about the same times each day, mid-morning and mid-afternoon-ish, a gray squirrel made its way around the grounds, returning to an almost perfect home in a hole along the trunk of a very old tree. In fact, he had two cozy spots, with a branch/porch in between. It would typically scurry first to the one on the right, sit for a bit on its porch, then peak into the one on the left. I imagine he had one stuffed with nuts for the winter, the other with whatever warm and soft scraps he could find. I say "almost perfect" because at the time we observed it, it had clearly been busy bulking itself up for the cold winter. While it could quickly scurry up and down the trunk, physically fitting into the hole was a challenge. But it persevered, giving a few last, strong pushes with it's feet, mid-air, to get entirely safely inside. It fit. Barely.
Having grown up on the East Coast, I never thought much about squirrels. Then, a Japanese friend of mine was visiting me at my parents' house in Massachusetts and couldn't get over her delight at seeing them. 'Squirrel' is also really difficult to say for non-native English speakers, so we got pretty giggly about her excitement and attempts to pronounce the word. Japan has some really amazing squirrels of its own, though less ubiquitous than here in the States.