cats: a fellow traveler

[kellan_the_tabby]

[ Loiosh, an orange tabby wearing a green harness. is seen from behind, in his stroller. He’s staring forward, along the paved path ahead. The background is a park, with low grass and a few trees. ]

I took the boy to the park, as you do.

The squirrels were … imprudent.

[ The camera has moved right and angled left, such that the view shows more of the left side of the path. Both camera and Loiosh are focused on a squirrel, who is happily hop-hopping down the left side of the path, paying no attention to the cat staring at them. ]

THIS small child is VERY BRAVE, & I hope that they do not get EATEN.

[ A slightly blurry, rather close view of the squirrel in question. The blurriness is due to zoom, not motion; the squirrel is standing still, tail upright with a curl at the end, one forepaw raised up, ears slightly tilted to the sides. There’s a scar across their nose, which ought to have taught them something. ]

Were they cautious? Sure. Would that have done them the tiniest bit of good if that had been Major Tom in the stroller? NOPE.

(Me, I just wanted to make friends. I’m terribly fond of squirrels.)

[ Less blurry, this time; the squirrel is closer to the camera, or at least the camera is closer to the squirrel. They’re facing the camera pretty directly, all four paws on the ground now, but ears perked firmly forward. Their tail is tilted a bit off to the left but otherwise still up. ]

SO CURIOUS. I mean, mostly about whether I had a snack for them. Which I did not. But it’s true, you never know, & that many squirrels in a park that size do very much depend on handouts from humans.

Upon no treats being forthcoming, they decided to bugger off. But they buggered off very slowly, just in case.

[ The squirrel is now facing to the right. up on their hind legs now, forepaws neatly curled, tail still up, with a curl at the tip. They’re poised and ready to poing poing off. ]

You never know who might suddenly produce a handful of peanuts!

---

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Comments

Yes ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

Squirrels are so cute. Mine run like hell when I show up, even though I put out the bird food that the squirrels also eat.

Re: Yes ...

[kellan_the_tabby]

I love them, they're SO ADORABLE. I had a squirrel friend for a while; well, I call her a friend, but she saw the relationship as entirely transactional. She would allow me to pet her, & I would give her peanuts. The one exception being late that summer; she'd had a second litter, & she was visibly tired & had a patch of dried milk stuck behind one ear. Even though I was out of peanuts, she stuck around & let me gently groom the milk off, & leaned against my hand for a moment when I was done. I miss her.

Re: Yes ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

I like watching their acrobatic displays. My yard has enough trees for squirrels to reach most parts without touching ground, so they can make quite a long arboreal run when they want to. :D

Re: Yes ...

[kellan_the_tabby]

OH yeah, & then you get a couple-three of em playing Chase Me Chase Me, that's AWESOME

Re: Yes ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

I often see two or three of them chasing each other. I think I've seen four at once occasionally. We seem to have a thriving population of fox squirrels.

Grays haven't managed to establish, though. It would be fun to have both, as they like slightly different habitats. We had an adult gray for year or two, but only the one. This fall, a young one appeared, but I only saw it a few times and suspect that something ate it. :(

Re: Yes ...

[kellan_the_tabby]

Grays are what I grew up with, fox squirrels are what we get around here. I'd like to meet some red squirrels, they're apparently tiny!

Re: Yes ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

Red squirrels are particular to pine forests, where they eat the pine seeds.

Re: Yes ...

[kellan_the_tabby]

Just gotta go uphill a bit, then ...