I haven’t commented on the kittens for a couple of days. The first caught kitten has now been delivered to the animal shelter where I’m sure he will be adopted quickly. I caught my Bob-Tail Calico. She’s getting tamed down pretty good now. So, I brought her inside for the first time this evening for introductions. The older white cat didn’t like the idea of another cat invading her space. She looked at it, scowled, and sat for a long time looking “through” it. Then, I picked her up and put her beside me on the couch to give her some attention in the presence of the kitten. She hissed once when the kitten was a little too close for her liking. But, overall she did well. The funny thing was when I started to move and the kitten moved. She jumped quickly and ran, as if she had been scared by the little kitten. I haven’t introduced the kitten to the inside dog, yet. One step at a time.

I was standing in my workshop today (which is a partially unfinished top floor of a two-car garage) when I heard a noise outside the door. It sounded like squirrels or chipmunks chattering. I stepped out to see what the noise was about and saw two Red Squirrels (NOT Fox Squirrels) bickering and chasing each other through the maple trees. As I watched, they ran through the trees and all of a sudden they fell about 50-70 feet to the ground with a very *loud* thump! They landed about 15 feet from my dog and were still bickering and standing off, nose to nose with each other. As dog started to rise, they ran back up the same maple tree and proceeded from tree to tree until they went through the pine and then one of them jumped to another maple, onto the roof of the garage and disappeared. This one was moving more slowly now — even more slowly than the initial running after the fall — as if exhausted or possibly stunned. I didn’t see the other one, so I stepped back into my workshop. As I made my way to the other end to work on the client’s computer, I noticed noises inside. As I looked over, the red squirrel climbed onto some boxes, looked at me, chattered, and ran back from where it came. Then it came back up, looked at me again and proceeded toward it’s destination in the corner near some boxes. I walked to the other end of the shop to retrieve something and as I turned toward my work, I heard more noises and saw what I thought was the same squirrel. It headed toward the first destination again, and then I knew it was the second squirrel. They started fighting and were running, chattering, screaming and rolling around. As they made their way toward the garage area knocking things over, it became apparent to me that this was not a minor squabble and wasn’t likely to end soon. So, I guess I’m living in the middle of a squirrel war zone…. a turf battle…. something.

You can learn more about Red Squirrels here:

http://makeashorterlink.com/?I2581494B

or at the blog title link above.

Here:   http://www.nhptv.org/natureworks/redsquirrel.htm