Squirrels!

As I was sitting out in the backyard this morning, I saw a pair of squirrels chasing each other right in front of me, dashing in and out of the space under our shed where we think the groundhog is hibernating. Then I saw a third squirrel join in. It was quite cute, with them going under the shed in one place, then coming out another, jumping on the wood piles or fences. Then a FOURTH joined in! I haven't seen that very much, if ever, usually it's just two playing, and if there's a third it's doing its own thing. Then a fifth joined. Then a sixth. It was a whole squirrel family, out for playtime. They hung out with me basically the whole time, some getting quite close, occasionally standing up to check me out and make sure I was cool, but generally ignoring me. I've never seen that before, and was delighted. I wonder if my regular sitting out there has gotten them acclimated to me. I wonder if they are all from the same litter or something? I wonder if they were stealing the groundhog's food or peeking in at her.

I also noticed that the squirrels had pretty different tails. one looked like it had a chunk taken out of the side, by a lack of fur in one location, another had a tail that was generally scraggly and thinner than the others, with very little fur at the end. I imagine it's better in winter to have a nice poofy tail they could use as a blanket and door for their squirrel nests, so I hope the scraggly tail one is all right. A squirrel's life must be tough. Regardless, they were playing on the warm sunny day and getting along, and I counted it a blessing to get to witness it.

That's all for this one. Next one maybe I'll talk about New Years.