Squirrel!

So I told you yesterday all about my job and the animals I see, and today I want to talk about a different side.

Squirrels.

I have a newfound fascination with squirrels.

The neighbourhood I've been working in seems to have an abundance of them, and sometimes I just stop and watch.

A few days ago, there was a squirrel on the ground near me, and I watched it watch me for a few minutes, until it scampered up a tree. Then later down the block, there was a squirrel just chilling out on top of a little feed box, and it peered at me around the tree, but didn't scamper up. I watched one jump from tree to tree a bit yesterday, and then today was the furry icing on the squirrel cake.

I had to tag something in the middle of someone's lawn, and the second I set foot on the grass, a noise erupted. It got louder, and I realized there was a squirrel about ten feet up in a tree in the lawn. He stared at me, and followed me a little, getting as close as possible without leaving the safety of his tree. And he chattered! I felt like he was just tearing me a new one. It was actually kind of cute, but I felt like he was going to start throwing rocks at my head or something. He seemed really pissed. Once I left the lawn, he stopped and went back to business as usual.

I decided I need to raise a baby squirrel. I need to understand their personalities, the way I understand cats. I understand cats because I've raised a dozen kittens from birth. So the solution is to kidnap a baby squirrel.

They seem curious, frightened, timid, angry, bold, shy, territorial, and nomadic all at the same time. I'm sure each specific squirrel has a very specific personality, like most animals do, but they must have some basic similarities amongst each other.

They just seem so full of life and so vivacious! Something that makes me want to tame it, to understand it fully, and to love it.