Ack! I've fallen behind on my favorite newsletter! (Trips to admire the fossils in the limestone tiles of first floor Swedish Hospital Cherry Hill have been distracting me. Thanks again for the info about them!)
Interestingly, Bellingham has a genetic variant of gray squirrels that are black. Apparently this chacteristic spread from Canada and has become increasingly common in Whatcom County squirrels in the last 20 years. Evolution in action!
Thanks for all that you shared in this post. For some years I weekly used a crosswalk on a moderately busy street which happened to have a wire strung above it between 2 telephone poles. Invariably as I was waiting to cross, one or more squirrels would traverse the wire overhead. Pretty sure they were laughing at me, the dumb human who lacked the agility to do what they were doing. They really have no fear of heights. I often have seen them near the top of towering fir trees and sometime leaping between the trees! When one looks at those small hands, it is all the more amazing.
Loved the story and images of the squirrel skeleton. Reminds me of the day I was struggling to remove Himalayan blackberry from beach willow when I looked down and saw, inches from my feet, a raccoon skull in pristine condition. Once I untangled myself from the blackberry thicket I brought the skull inside, sanitized it in a bleach solution, and placed it on my window sill, where I admired it for several years. And thanks for the link to the article about Austin Watson. He sounds like a delightfully quirky fellow.
It was the highlight of that day. I was, however, a bit over-zealous with the bleach and after a few years the skull began to crumble, in layers! I sure enjoyed looking at it each day while it maintained its structural integrity.
Being from the Florida panhandle red hills area, we have a bounty of squirrels. Many disparage them as tree rats or worse, but I have always found them quite fun to watch. This lovely essay on finding an expired one lying peacefully to decay was a fitting tribute to these little creatures who move and live so skillfully in our midst. Thank you.
It’s nice to hear about the squirrel truly resting in peace. I have to remind myself to appreciate the eastern grey squirrels, as I am such a fan of the Douglas! The easterns do grace our neighborhoods, though grace is probably the wrong verb. It was a treat to revisit Gary Larson’s squirrel visions! One can tell that he was quite taken with these neighbors and their possible cross cultural experiences. Last of all, thank you for a memorable quote from my favorite book, Middlemarch. It was familiar but I would have never been able to source it!
Ack! I've fallen behind on my favorite newsletter! (Trips to admire the fossils in the limestone tiles of first floor Swedish Hospital Cherry Hill have been distracting me. Thanks again for the info about them!)
Interestingly, Bellingham has a genetic variant of gray squirrels that are black. Apparently this chacteristic spread from Canada and has become increasingly common in Whatcom County squirrels in the last 20 years. Evolution in action!
Thanks for all that you shared in this post. For some years I weekly used a crosswalk on a moderately busy street which happened to have a wire strung above it between 2 telephone poles. Invariably as I was waiting to cross, one or more squirrels would traverse the wire overhead. Pretty sure they were laughing at me, the dumb human who lacked the agility to do what they were doing. They really have no fear of heights. I often have seen them near the top of towering fir trees and sometime leaping between the trees! When one looks at those small hands, it is all the more amazing.
Enjoyed the KIRO audio about Austin Watson!
They were laughing at you but don't take it personally. I think they are laughing at all of us.
Loved the story and images of the squirrel skeleton. Reminds me of the day I was struggling to remove Himalayan blackberry from beach willow when I looked down and saw, inches from my feet, a raccoon skull in pristine condition. Once I untangled myself from the blackberry thicket I brought the skull inside, sanitized it in a bleach solution, and placed it on my window sill, where I admired it for several years. And thanks for the link to the article about Austin Watson. He sounds like a delightfully quirky fellow.
Austin is a splendid chap. Ooh, that'd be fun to find raccoon skull.
It was the highlight of that day. I was, however, a bit over-zealous with the bleach and after a few years the skull began to crumble, in layers! I sure enjoyed looking at it each day while it maintained its structural integrity.
Being from the Florida panhandle red hills area, we have a bounty of squirrels. Many disparage them as tree rats or worse, but I have always found them quite fun to watch. This lovely essay on finding an expired one lying peacefully to decay was a fitting tribute to these little creatures who move and live so skillfully in our midst. Thank you.
Thanks for your kind words.
I was surprised that you didn't mention the western gray squirrel who IS a native. Perhaps because they don't appear in King County, which I learned by reading this article. https://wdfw.wa.gov/species-habitats/species/sciurus-griseus
Good point. Thanks for sharing the info.
It’s nice to hear about the squirrel truly resting in peace. I have to remind myself to appreciate the eastern grey squirrels, as I am such a fan of the Douglas! The easterns do grace our neighborhoods, though grace is probably the wrong verb. It was a treat to revisit Gary Larson’s squirrel visions! One can tell that he was quite taken with these neighbors and their possible cross cultural experiences. Last of all, thank you for a memorable quote from my favorite book, Middlemarch. It was familiar but I would have never been able to source it!
Yeah, Gary Larson and George Eliot, together at last!