Monday, March 26, 2012

My New Best Friend

So Saturday I was walking down to my Couch to Keg buddy's house for our walk and there was this really fat squirrel on the sidewalk. I said hello to him, because this is the sort of person I am. Instead of scampering away in squirrel-like fashion, he just scooted over a bit to let me pass, never leaving the sidewalk himself. He turned as I passed, not wanting to let me surprise him or anything, but he seemed really pretty comfortable with me passing so close.

I'm not actually a hunchback...
So I met Jackie and we began walking back up the street, me telling her about him, and there he still was, hanging out on the sidewalk. Jackie said, 'Well, hello, baby, come here,' and the little guy DID! He started running at us like we were his long lost family.

So I went past him and ran up to my house, fetching a few raw almonds, and came back out. Darned it if the little guy didn't just eat a few right out of my hand—one out of Jackie's too.

I think the lesson is if you are really friendly, people will just give you stuff.

Erm.

Maybe you have to be really friendly and really cute. It's also possible you need a big, fluffy tail.

In other news, we power walked almost 5.5 miles, including some mondo hills... MAN, were WE tired!


But that is all I have today. I have been meant to be editing, but got sucked into re-reading Hunger Games this weekend, too, so I am behind.

Anyone else have squirrel friends? (I've fed one by hand before, but it was on campus where they all get fed regularly. This was a neighborhood squirrel and it's the first time it's happened so close to home, though Jackie made friends with a chipmunk last summer, so maybe she is the rodent whisperer.

24 comments:

Christine Murray said...

That is so cute! The nearest thing I've had to a squirrel friend was one that I met in Central Park, though he was totally playing me for food. You know that cool kid in school who's only nice to you because they want to copy your homework? Yeah, well he was the squirrel equivalent of that. He did more flips and acrobatics than an entire Cirque de Soleil troupe.

Congrats on the 5.5 miles, you're doing so well with the motivation. You should bottle it and sell it.

Old Kitty said...

Awwww so glad you made friends with a gorgeous squirrel! They're lovely!!

The squirrels here in London are very bold! They run up your jeans and demand to be fed! LOL!!! But they do it in a most cute and NAKED way! Take care
x

Elizabeth Spann Craig said...

Cute! Nice to have a furry friend like that.

No, here if the animals are that bold, they're probably rabid. Sigh.

Pursuit of a crawling baby said...

Oh that's so cute. I've never experienced it though!
Well done on the 5.5miles! I did 5k myself this morning :)

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Our squirrels all run. Wild you got him to eat out of your hand. Maybe he was a pet?

Hart Johnson said...

Christine, oh, too funny! The user-squirrel... teehee At least he paid for his supper with entertaining you...

Jenny-those sound like they are on campus--just used to being fed and everyone is nice, so they aren't afraid.

Elizabeth-that is more the norm here, too, though the rabid ones stagger.

Nessa-good for you! You were probably jogging! We are definitely not there yet. And this was our first walk that was quite that intense. usually if we are more than an hour, it is because we've spend 10 minutes in line to buy a coffee halfway through.

Alex-I've seen enough of them places with LOTS of people who feed them that I know they can lose their fear. I think this guy has just been reinforced for being friendly--people must feed them.

Patti said...

The chinchilla has a squirrly tail and runs up maniacally for almonds...

Does that count as a squirrly friend?

LynnRush said...

This is so awesome!!!!! What a cute little thing!

JCS said...

Love the blog! I am going to accept my new title as the rodent whisperer. Could I be the next dr. Doolittle?!! Hmm

LTM said...

omg--LOL! You are so funny! *snort* If you're friendly, cute, and have a fluffy tail. The winning combination revealed!

Great work on the walking! I've finally gotten back into running regularly. Maybe in a few weeks it'll show! :D

THG. Saturday... <3

Michael Offutt, Phantom Reader said...

Squirrels are just rats with bushy tails.

Mary@GigglesandGuns said...

Congrats on the 5.5 with "mondo hills".

You've got guts with the squirrel -- they are more dangerous than they appear.

Krista McLaughlin said...

I've never had a squirrel friend, but there are two chipmunks that like to play tag under my deck and I like to laugh at them. :)

Hart Johnson said...

Patti-Chinchillas are so cute! But as domesticated animals they are a little different...

Lynn-isn't he!?

Jackie-HA! Glad you saw your rodent whisperer designation! Hope your flight is going smoothly!

Leigh, now just to figure out how to get a tail, eh? *snort*

Michael-well I figure preferring trees to sewers counts for something...

Mary-he actually nibbled my figure a bit, but it didn't hurt.

Krista-we have a chipmunk hole just off our front porch, so we see a lot of them, too.

Amalie Berlin said...

I love a friendly squirrel! So cute.

I used to eat lunch at a lakeside park, all sorts of chubby, friendly squirrels there. One sat at my picnic table with me often, but wouldn't eat anything I gave him except french fries--which he'd take from my hand and sit a couple feet away and munch down.

I hate to think what his lipid panel would be like... and what I contributed to squirrely corpulence:)

Emily R. King said...

New follower here!

What a cute little squirrel. How could you not stop to say hello?

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy said...

Oh, that is sweet! He must be used to somebody feeding him. I hope that he isn't lost. When I was teaching Head Start, one little girl's sister found one like that in the park and brought him home. The little girl brought him to show and tell at Head Start and our Family Advocate freaked out, because they can carry rabies and the plague, come to find out. There were letters send out to the parents and that family had to put the squirrel back in the park. What a mess. Of course, nobody got sick or caught a dreadful disease.

Kathy M.

Helena said...

When I lived in an apartment years ago I'd regularly feed a local squirrel that would come up to my third floor living room window. One morning I came out to find two squirrels having sex on the window ledge. Sure enough, a few months later their young squirrel kids were coming up to the same window for food.

Moral of the story: Feeding squirrels leads to squirrel sex leads to squirrel babies leads to more hungry little mouths to feed.

And yes, I still would've fed the squirrel on the sidewalk just like you did, but not by hand 'cause I have a deadly fear of rabies.

Deb and Barbara said...

We have so many squirrels in our 'hood that I guess I could be friends with them, I've just never thought of it. This story is sooo adorable (as is the pic) that I might re-think my ways :) B

Hart Johnson said...

Amalie-I'd love a squirrel lunch mate! Too funny, though, that he only likes french fries! Did you know mice fed a high fat diet will spontaneously switch preferences from water to alcohol.

Emily! Welcome! I'm happy to have you here!

Kathy-PLAGUE!? Oh dear. I think I've made a narrow escape!

Helena *snort* Oil! Squirrel sex and babies! Actually that sounds pretty good--I love squirrel babies.

Barbara-worth a try, though I have often tried and this was my first success.

L. Diane Wolfe said...

Really cute with a fluffy tail helps.

I'm amazed he would come right to you. Apparently you aren't the first to feed him.

Sarah Ahiers said...

i wonder if someone raised him as a baby and then released him into the wild? We had two baby squirrels we did that with, Gwen and Arthur. They were so cute, drinking out of their bottles. They'd climb all over us. When they got old enough we brought them to the wildlife rehab center (with a nice donation) and they were successfully released into the wild a few months later

Southpaw said...

You do know that squirrel is just luring you in, right? Shut your window tonight.

Anonymous said...

Way cool! The closest thing I had is when I found a baby bunny and tried to feed him from a bottle...lol