Squirrel on a hot composition shingle roof

I've been quiet here lately, spoke not a word, just sat and stared into space. I had something heavy weighing on my mind. . .

-BIG DADDY in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

If you visited my blog in April you may have seen the video of the squirrel family that set up residence in the Mountain Ash tree in our side yard. They outgrew that tree a few weeks later and we wondered if they would stay close by. At least three of them did, moving on to one of the giant Sequoias in our back lot. Sequoias are not natural habitat for squirrels but so many Oregon White Oak trees have been cut down around our neighborhood that the little guys who have survived must find different types of lodging, sans acorns. In the case of our squirrels there is a separate feeder stocked just with squirrel food and peanuts, and a water bowl nearby, so they don't have to go far for that which sustains life. They are spoiled I think but in return they provide entertainment. The squirrel in the above shot (sorry, the camera focused on the bamboo stalk in front) sunned himself on the garage roof for the better part of an hour one recent afternoon. It was a cute scene, but nowhere nearly as hilarious as a scene that I failed to capture because I didn't have my camera. I was out in the back lot with the dogs and heard, then saw, a couple of squirrels running up and around their Sequoia. They were mildly alarmed by my presence so moved further up the tree. At 25-30 feet up the trunk one squirrel walked out on a small dead branch and the other swiped at him with front paws from just beneath the branch. The top squirrel thought it was a fun game and decided to increase the excitement. She positioned herself so that she was hanging by the hind leg joints that would be our knee joints -- swinging in a full stretch the way children do upside down on monkey-bars in a park. What a little imp! I smiled the rest of the day.....still do whenever I think about it.



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