I'll be honest: I'm not a Rodent Lover.
Oh, the reasons are many, and I could list them here, but basically, early on, I chose cats.
Or they chose me. Whatever, I'm not a crazy cat lady or anything, but I have a couple of cats that live with me, and have for all of my adult life. And if you live with cats, there are some other creatures whose lives will not be, let's say safe, within the same domicile. And, while I don't LOVE them, I don't wish rodents any harm either. Especially within an area I'm in charge of keeping clean. Cat lunches can be messy affairs.
Also, their tiny paws and naked rodent tails creep me out. I love animals, but I'm only human. Some things creep me out.
But, dear readers, something has happened to me since I moved into the big city. Something strange and foreign... (cue Twilight Zone music).
It's a lovely home we have found in Denver, with a big back yard for the dogs.
The day we moved in we noticed squirrels were all over the yard and the huge lovely trees that surround it.
Squirrels. Rodents. Great.
Dogs hate squirrels. And I, as mentioned above, don't care for rodents.
I tried to stay positive. I love the neighborhood. I love the house. The dogs can deal.
At first, I found it merely amusing that the squirrels bugged the dogs and ran along the fencetops, barking right back at them. The dogs were getting more exercise, all was well.
But then one day a squirrel ran up a tree right beside me, parked himself on a branch and commenced to enjoy the hell out of a crabapple. Like a boss! He looked really happy up there. It was a nice little scene.
Being who I am, I grabbed my camera, the 100-400 lens, and started shooting. And he just sat there, looking at me and eating away, never missing a bite. Like a furry tiny-pawed boss. I shot him as he ate the entire fruit. The animal seemed as amused by me as I was by it. Our eyes locked a few times.
And then, a few days later, I saw more squirrels and I noticed THEY DID NOT CREEP ME OUT. They are subjects! They are models. They have personalities, and some of them are funny! These squirrels are sort of, dare I say it, cute. And they have bushy, bouncy, snappy tails with which they seem to communicate. None of the naked, creepy, rat and mouse tails of my farm-housed youth.
I don't know how to explain this crazy reaction, a feeling I can only describe as dissonant affection, so I won't try. I will say that, over my time here, I have learned much about the tiny-pawed fluffy-tailed and their ways. For one thing: they love pumpkin. A lot! The seeds especially seem to be prized. Last November I set the pumpkin guts by the outside trash for the night and the next morning it appeared that some sort of squirrely pumpkin rave had occurred all over my deck. I was not amused, but I did remember.
After Halloween this year, I put the gourds where the partying beasts could get to them again, hoping for some photo ops.
Then waited.
Soon, this happened:
Look at that tail!
Squirrel Butt!
This same series was repeated over and over again. Like, twenty times. Pumpkins have many seeds. The little dudes seemed happy to have been helped with their pre-winter fattening, so I'm glad to be such a heroine to the tree dwelling. And I should admit, everytime he dove into the pumpkin for the seeds, I had a good laugh. Squirrel butt is funny stuff.
I just did it for the images. I'm no rodent lover.
Love Many, Trust Few, Harm None. Not even rodents.
The squirrels like to use this tree outside my window to file down their teeth. I don't know if the tree likes it. It's not talking.
Are you looking at me?!
