Last weekend, my husband and I, who are still sickeningly lovey-dovey, went for a walk in an area park. And not just any park, but on that played a roll in our engagement scavenger hunt.
While we were meanering through the lower stretches of the rolling, grassy hills, we happened upon a large rock, swarming with squirrels. This rock was of typical grayness, but of unusual height. While not a boulder or anything, it was about waist high.
There were about 5 or 6 squirrels around this rock, which scattered and then regrouped after we stopped by the rock. After looking around, we realized that the top of this rock was littered with peanuts. (Aha).
So we started tossing peanuts to the widdle squirrelys. And then one of the really bold ones sauntered up and took a piece of peanut right out of Greg’s outstretched fingers! The little guy reached out with both paws, one grasping the nut and the other grabbing Greg’s finger, as if to say, ‘why thank you good human, i will take this peanut off your hands.’ We were giddy with shock (me moreso), but kept our cool. Can’t let those squirrels know they amazed us with their brashness, just let them think it was perfectly acceptable to take food from humans.
The next shock came when a shyer sibling (or friend or whatever they are to each other) of the first squirrel quietly climbed up the back of the rock, which I was now sitting against. Greg pointed him out and as turned around, the squirrel snatched and grabbed a peanut and made his escape. Brazen and thrilling.
After a few more instance of directly handing off of the peanuts, including an encounter of my own, our adventure in squirrel tending came to an end when a ten year old boy and his older male tender stumbled onto our Peanut Dispensery. When the boy figured out what was going on, he was all about getting in on the action! And when told he had to be still, promptly plopped down and proffered his own peanut offering. After sitting in that position for several minutes longer than I thought he would last, he wandered off.
We too said goodbye to our furry friends and continued our romantic walk. As we rounded the corner, we glimpsed the boy crouched down, proffering peaunts again to more curious woodland creates, whom we discovered to be not tame, but certainly adventurous.