That looks a little squirrelly...

Yesterday mid-morning while Kev, Joyce & Sam were out hunting, I was working at my computer. While looking out the window, I noticed there were quite a few large squirrels in one area in the yard... where the pumpkins were, though those pumpkins are pretty much long gone by now. There were some fat fox squirrels & gray squirrels, and there were a couple of black squirrels. They were running around, and it looked like they were chasing each other.

We only began seeing black squirrels out here in our woods in the past couple of years. We would see them in town all the time, skinny sleek little black squirrels. Usually the black squirrels I see out here now are also those skinny fast ones that zip around. But one of the black squirrels I was watching yesterday was a big, plump one. And then I noticed something else about him... something I have never seen on a squirrel before, black, brown or gray. The end of his tail was white. A big part of it, too, not just a little tiny tip, but a good chunk of the end of his tail was pure white. So I grabbed my camera and tried to sneak out on the porch to take his photo... nothing doing... you cannot sneak up on a squirrel out here in our neck of the woods. These aren't 'townie' squirrels; they're wild and live in the woods and survive because they are so very alert... and fast. He dashed off into the woods, so I ran after him snapping photos.



Then he scrambled up a tree, so I stopped. He chewed me out, and I took his photo while he did it, all the while carefully advancing through the woods. Did I mention that I was barefoot?... And it was damp and foggy out, and kind of cold. Probably about high 30's or low 40's (degrees F.). Cold enough. The squirrel sat on a branch for a while as I approached.



But then he dashed up the main trunk of the tree, opposite me. I stood there for a minute, and he peeked out at me through a V in the tree.



I took his photo, slowly stepped closer and zoomed in on him... and he dashed further up the tree, so I ran a few steps and got a photo of his tail going up the tree.



I think he was planning to jump to another tree, and then I realized my feet were freakin' freezing... so I limped back to the house to thaw my feet out, and to see if any of my kazillion photos of that strange squirrel turned out ok.

So... it makes you wonder if his momma had a total skunk of a boyfriend...