Post by Whiterook on Sept 12, 2023 18:23:59 GMT -5
I’ve been training 7 squirrels all Summer long to perform “acts” in a little circus Trent I built in my backyard. I was sitting on the deck one day drinking a can of beer, which I rarely do these days, eating roasted peanuts I got from 5 Guys Burgers… you can scoop[ up a small bag of fresh roasted peanuts, with salted shells for free, and they are amazing! I was breaking peanuts open and snacking away, the salt making the beer taste that much better. As an aside, my dad took me to a bar called, the Social Acadian Club when I came of age and we had a beer together… it was an amazing moment and a dear memory of drinking a cold draft of Moosehead Pale Ale (or maybe it was their lager?)… the trick was to shake some salt on top, which not only tamed the foam head, but also tasted wonderful with the salt!
So there I was on that hot summer day, sitting on my deck in the shade of my lounge chair awning when a squirrel hopped on the deck and stared me down! It took a moment to figure out what made this little fella so bold, but I noticed his eyes glued to the bowl of peanuts; as I grabbed another, he watched with keen interest… he wanted a peanut! What else could I do…I tossed one his way. I tossed it a bit high and it went over his head, and he did an incredible flip, ass over teakettle, catching the peanut BEHIND him! Honestly, I couldn’t stop laughing, but it didn’t bother hom one bit as he broke open the peanut and went to town. I took a nice long draw of my beer and watched the little guy, feeling happy I made his day. He finished the peanut, licking the salt off his fingers and looked back my way. What the hell… what’s one more peanut? I thought it’d be entertaining, for me anyway, to see if I could recreate the acrobatic feat so, I tossed the next peanut a little over his head, and BOIING, he did the exact same flip! Hmmm, I thought. I tossed a few more over the next fifteen minutes, but my wife coming out asking me to help with something in the house spooked the little fella away.
Coming back onto the porch with a fresh beer and the bowl of peanuts I brought in with me, and there were my little friend, with four more squirrels. Sharing the wealth after sitting down once again, I tossed peanuts to them, tossing them like skeet in different trajectories and directions, and though slow at first to the uptake, acrobatics in different forms started to take shape. These were some talented little beggars! We hung out together for about an hour and the peanuts ran out between my eating and their hijinx.
Long story short, those five squirrels, and two more that came along later, would come by whenever they saw me come out, and I figured out that by tossing the peanuts in different ways, I gradually saw them doing some spectacular jumps and flips… I even figured out a way to toss them in a way that they would hit them with their tails to a fellow squirrel. I started substituting ping pong balls, and things really got interesting! The neighborhood kids caught wind of this and would come over and watch, even…so, I build a small tent, and lured the squirrels over and started working on our Squirrel Circus act.
Then, I woke up.
So there I was on that hot summer day, sitting on my deck in the shade of my lounge chair awning when a squirrel hopped on the deck and stared me down! It took a moment to figure out what made this little fella so bold, but I noticed his eyes glued to the bowl of peanuts; as I grabbed another, he watched with keen interest… he wanted a peanut! What else could I do…I tossed one his way. I tossed it a bit high and it went over his head, and he did an incredible flip, ass over teakettle, catching the peanut BEHIND him! Honestly, I couldn’t stop laughing, but it didn’t bother hom one bit as he broke open the peanut and went to town. I took a nice long draw of my beer and watched the little guy, feeling happy I made his day. He finished the peanut, licking the salt off his fingers and looked back my way. What the hell… what’s one more peanut? I thought it’d be entertaining, for me anyway, to see if I could recreate the acrobatic feat so, I tossed the next peanut a little over his head, and BOIING, he did the exact same flip! Hmmm, I thought. I tossed a few more over the next fifteen minutes, but my wife coming out asking me to help with something in the house spooked the little fella away.
Coming back onto the porch with a fresh beer and the bowl of peanuts I brought in with me, and there were my little friend, with four more squirrels. Sharing the wealth after sitting down once again, I tossed peanuts to them, tossing them like skeet in different trajectories and directions, and though slow at first to the uptake, acrobatics in different forms started to take shape. These were some talented little beggars! We hung out together for about an hour and the peanuts ran out between my eating and their hijinx.
Long story short, those five squirrels, and two more that came along later, would come by whenever they saw me come out, and I figured out that by tossing the peanuts in different ways, I gradually saw them doing some spectacular jumps and flips… I even figured out a way to toss them in a way that they would hit them with their tails to a fellow squirrel. I started substituting ping pong balls, and things really got interesting! The neighborhood kids caught wind of this and would come over and watch, even…so, I build a small tent, and lured the squirrels over and started working on our Squirrel Circus act.
Then, I woke up.
