It was December 2009 and winter hadn’t quite arrived yet. At
least I wasn’t ready yet. My animal instinct wasn’t as sharp as I wish it had
been. Had it been, then I could have stopped a crime from happening. But I did
catch the criminal red handed. Oh, with what impunity he helped himself to what
was mine.
I hadn’t yet put away the cushions on my deck chairs because
it wasn’t quite winter yet and at least in my mind this was a way to prolong
summer. At first it wasn’t clear who had ruined one of these cushions. A small
crater in the middle of one of them really stumped me for answers. Normally, I
am a good sleuth. Not this time. Anyway, for now, I just flipped the damaged
cushion over because we could still use it. I felt puzzled as to how the damage
had occurred. And then I caught the criminal red handed. He is the cutest
creature God has created and probably God’s favorite. Nothing that this fellow
needs is not provided for him. Right now he needed the stuffing that was the
cushion. Once he began clawing the cushion for the fluffy, featherweight, cloud-like stuffing the only sensible
thing for me to do was to videotape the evidence. I captured about 5-and-half
minutes of pure destruction. His stiff bushy tail straight up in the air like a
cleaning brush his "motorized" paws began to gather up the stuffing
and neatly bundled the collected amount into a ball and tucked it under his chin. Then he hopped off on to the deck railing and then after balancing himself
and securing further the ball under its chin he hopped on to the tree branch
and then the fence and then disappeared. He made several such trips, each time,
packing more under his chin and disappearing over the fence. It didn’t take a
genius to figure out what he was up to. He was lining his nest for winter. Until he revealed it to me, I didn't even know about the stuffing in the cushion.
The saying “the universe provides” could not have rung more
true than right this minute. My hard earned money of about $125 had just now
been given away to a freeloading though enterprising squirrel. I could have tried
to save the four cushions but all had been damaged and at least three beyond
redemption.
So instead of crying over spilt milk I did what any sensible
person would do. I uploaded the video on YouTube with the note how badly it
snowed just two days later. Mr. Squirrel, a responsible provider, on his own,
bless his animal instinct, must have known about the upcoming snow storm or he
must have paid closer attention to the TV or radio or the Internet weather
forecast. You too can witness this squirrel’s ingenuity and let this be one
cautionary tale for you, too. Here is
the address:
Ciao!
