brrrrr

a couple of chilly days has put the squirrels into their fluffy winter fur and good thing it did since its snowing today! snow in october! how crazy, obviously no sightings today but heres some winter squirrels for the sheer joy of squirrels.

just a little nip

Although it did stop raining, and boy did it rain yesterday, it is incredibly windy today. It it so windy that I think if the squirrels timed a leap just right they could become flying squirrels. I do have a bunch of critters hovering around the yard, and was able to hand feed them for a bit but its just too cold when the wind blows to sit out there with them. Also, with the wind blowing in gusts, it makes them skittish (even more than usual) and I don't really feel like risking a nip on the fingers because they grabbed the peanut in panic. I did get a little nick the other day, didn't draw blood so no worries, and I still have all of my fingers in tact (none have fallen off) so I think I'm OK but that doesn't mean I want to do it again.

all quiet on the squirrely front

Not too much unusual behavior the past few days. A couple of hand feeds, but kinda rough to multitask and since the dishes needed to be washed they had to hunt for peanuts in the grass.

dont blink or youll miss it

So today after getting home from work around 2:30, I decided to take my bucket-o-peanuts and feed the squirrels and for the next hour or so I hand fed about 6 squirrels. Mom watched and took some pictures for a bit. I did end up with a few fingers being mouthed but in the squirrels defense they looked like (and smelled I'm sure after handling peanuts for an hour). In fact the one that is "brave and curious" I thought was about ready to curl up in my lap. BUT! Here are some of the pictures from our bonding moment.

this little lady was very brave and curious

After running out of peanuts the yard was teeming with squirrels that kept staring at me through the glass door. In fact, the handle jumper did that trick again.

Oh! before I forget, mom told me this morning that the light on the back porch was crooked and her theory was the squirrels did it. Well, turns out yes they did because after the handle jump today, the crazy thing jumped on top of the lamp and tried getting at the screened portion of the door that was open on top (our door has the roll of screen you pull down).

I was out of peanuts so there wasn't much I could do except watch this crazy squirrel try to get into the house until dinner was ready.

Now the best part. I was watching them through the curtain on the heavy door fighting each other off from the small pile of peanut dust and shelled peanuts that were at the bottom of the bucket. I was counting how many were out there at once (5 btw) and a chipmunk darted across the roof of the garage!! We've never had chipmunks! The little guy was too fast to take a picture or show anyone else that he exists, I did see him again in the grass a few minutes later but again he was too fast to show or photograph.

I heart red squirrels :)

  

i think its the ears lol
i think its the ears

not a true red squirrel, but a giant indian squirrel

amazing videos

Mission Impossible: How Squirrels Move

Welcome Aboard!

Welcome!

Let me start off by saying, I'm a little kooky when it comes to the critters that roam my backyard. Well I guess I should really say control my backyard, although I'm the one with opposable thumbs and a larger brain, I most certainly do not reign completely over the yard.

I've been toying with the idea of starting this blog based entirely on the happenings of the critters in my yard (the squirrels most specifically), and the action of today finally got me to say "That's it! I'm making that blog!"

We are friend to almost all life in our backyard. We have feeders with seed and suet, squirrel boxes loaded with corn and sunflowers, hummingbird feeders, flowers and a vegetable garden.  Most nice days you can find my mother or myself outside getting a bit dirty somehow.

My mother and I love our yard. We made a terra cotta pot birdbath that sits in our round garden bed surrounded by flowers and other statues. We plant various vegetables every year (tomatoes, lettuce, radishes, peppers), and have roses and a wall of morning glories. 

We have erected two 4"x4" posts in our yard, adorned them with hooks and hang either bird feeders or hanging tomatoes on them. Initially we had some mischievous squirrels eating from the sunflower feeders but after placing a baffle around the post and a squirrel feeder under the baffle, that problem was shortly eliminated. We have found that a simple solution to keeping the squirrels off our bird feeders, is to provide them their own source of food. Raccoons and skunks don't really care whether the food was intended for them, as long as they can eat it.

Now, let me get to the point. We have a bunch of squirrels who frequent our backyard, and most of them can now recognize the sound of the back door opening and will come running for peanuts when they hear it. Most of them will actually take nuts from my hands now. And when I say a bunch of squirrels, I mean a bunch; at least 6-7 different ones and yes they all come to the door and look in on occasion. In fact, they've grown so accustomed to door = peanuts that they have taken to throwing themselves into the door to get our attention. With so many squirrels, we hear our share of fights and chasing that we go look outside when we hear a calamity but yesterday was a different case. After hearing the hubbub I peeked through the curtain on the back door to find one of the squirrels standing on the handle for the door, as if it were an attempt to open it. In order to remedy this we turned the handle to its vertical position so it would no longer be a perch. 

Lo and behold, today they have shown me they are not as dumb as they look. Even though the handle was turned, they found a way to grab onto it and and scratch at the door with their back feet and get our attention. I heard the scratching and looked to see this crazy little fur-ball hanging on to the door knob. When I arrived, he/she let go and sat looking up at me waiting for the reward to their cleverness. So I grabbed my camera and pulled up a chair to see what would happen if I sat and waited.

After staring at me for a few minutes with a somewhat agitated look because they had not received their prize, he/she decided maybe I hadn't heard them so they needed another attempt. So he/she climbed up on the banister to the left of the door and threw them self into the glass.. but still no peanut.. continuing their determination he/she climbed onto the banister on the right side of the door (which has the handle) and jumped on to the handle and sat there staring at me through the glass long enough for me to snag this picture because without it I fear no one would believe me.