When life throws you a squirrel,

make squirrel-ade!  (ok, that's just disgusting!)

 
 Actually, today life did throw us a squirrel and it was a bit of a night-saver.

         Lately, Judah has been (I hesitate to use the term 'mamas boy') a bit more sensitive to the EXACT location of the Queen.   LJ has always been a bit of an independent young knight, telling us to 'go away!' pretty much since he could form the words, but Judah has always trended a bit more loving/ cautious.  And then he got clingy.  Yup, Rachel leaving for work the past three weeks has been a bit... louder.

        So after I did the dishes and put the food away, it was time for a walk around town in their red Radio Flyer wagon, or really anything that would make them shut up.  (I'm clearly aiming for parent of the year here.)  The plan failed inasmuch as Elijah didn't shut up at all; rather, he kept a running commentary on our every movement that occasionally paused for breath.  And thus it was that 45 minutes later we arrived home with the only things keeping me going being the sovereignty of God and the promise of fresh-brewed coffee upon arrival.

        We were about to go in the house when I heard an awful scratching sound.  It sounded like a dog knawing on a bone high in the air above us.  Since I'd never seen a flying dog before, I was a little concerned.  (If you thought a pigeon letting one go on your head was bad, wait until you get nailed by a flying St. Bernard!)  It turned out that indeed an animal was eating a bone high above us, but no luck on the dog front.  It was our friendly neighborhood angry squirrel.  40 feet above us in the tree, he placidly knawed on an old bone (Ina and I figured out later that it might have belonged to her dogs eons ago), presenting a sight I had never seen before.

       Suffice it to say that we live in enough of an urban area that this is kinda a big deal.  For the next 20 minutes, coffee was forgotten; Ina and Mary got out of the car and joined us in our little act of squirrel voyeurism.   It obligingly ran from limb to limb and finally perched up atop our telephone pole for five minutes before losing its grip and abruptly dropping the bone a couple feet from Judah, then causing a bit of consternation by racing down the tree at us before neatly disappearing (poof!) into the tree itself.   At that point, this brave knight, laughing hysterically, grabbed his children and ran inside before they could find something to poke into the little hole where I'm guessing Mr. Squirrel has made his abode.

        It's not quite 'the wild,' but it was fun to get out and about tonight... however, this suburbanite thinks that's about all he wants to see of wild animals this month!

        Have a wonderful night!