Squirrel Man’s Wife
June 15, 2008 · Print This Article
My husband is following me on my journey to being green in our new urbanism community, but he is no treehugger…yet. That’s why I was excited (at least initially) with his developing interest in our “wild life.”
I don’t know if it has to do with hitting the big “40″ (a little while ago) but in recent years he’s taken a real liking to squirrels. I love animals but squirrels aren’t up on my list of wildlife I’d like to get closer to.
Case in point: Today he picked me up from my 2-day meeting in the city and surprised me with a decision to stop at our local market for some fresh items for lunch. I stayed in the car as I was exhausted. Then as I waited I hoped he would think to pick up some other grocery items that I know we were running low on at home.
That was wishful thinking. Unless we are specifically shopping for household groceries my husband can’t run into a store for one item and then change gears and pick up other things that might strike him as items that need to be replenished in our home - like toilet paper, milk, orange juice, cereal and fruit.
He’s a one track guy (personally I think this is a male gene thing - any guys reading this blog are free to argue with me in the comments below).
Anyhow, the point of this post is that not only did my husband not come out of the market with some useful household items instead of just some items for our Saturday lunch, but he bought an item that was for the consumption of someone other than his family or dog. He bought peanuts for his new found, wildlife friends - our backyard rodents squirrels.
They actually anticipate his return to the house. Just as we came up to the house two ran across the driveway. I thought I heard one squirrel say to the other:
“Big guy’s home Morton - go get the kids it’s lunch time.”
Now as I write this post, my husband is in the backyard on the bench under our maple tree with a glass of Chardonnay, and a bag of peanuts by his side.
He’s going to be one of those odd old men that the kids nickname “squirrel man.” YIKES - that makes me squirrel man’s wife.
Tags: Green Living, New Urbanism, Recreation, Your Home, back yard, community life, new urbanism, recreation
What a great post - thanks for the Saturday giggle!
We have a lot of the rodent family in our backyard - mostly chipmunks that eat pretty much everything in site and look cute doing it. Nasty little things.
Annette I’ll take chipmunks over squirrels any day. Chipmunks move much faster, they’re smaller so that means there’s less chance I’ll see them - bonus!
Your husband’s little buddies are just amusing to look at and they’re friendly. Another plus, is that unlike birds, you never really see any squirrel poop all over the yard. Birds can make a real mess.
I had to buy a big plastic owl to scare them off.
But I have to admit that I would prefer chipmunks over squirrels if for nothing more than the cute factor. I’d give you 10 of my squirrels for 1 of your chipmunks. And if you want some else fun to watch - give a raccoon an ice cube. They just keep spinning it around in their little paws. Pretty cool.
Ed - oh no let’s not let my husband in on the raccoons and ice cubes novelty. I don’t know what I’d do if I saw him out there communing with squirrels and raccoons!
LOL Sharon I think it’s wonderful. I’ve had a love hate relationship with squirrels for decades. They frustrated me for a few yrs at my current home because they wanted to have babies in my porch roof. I’d replace the 2×4 each year and each following February they would finally stop chewing. One yr. I finally said okay you win I give up! They’d sit on the porch and stare at me as if to say ‘why are you here, this is OUR house.’
Of course the year I stopped replacing the wood they stopped wanting to have babies in my roof! Sigh.