What a pair!

  If you read at all, you will eventually come across tales of unusual friendships in the animal world.  Critters have a decent amount of love to share given a half of chance.  I don't care if it is a rhino that has befriended a sheep or a chicken that loves a cat, their friendships seem to flourish because there is no interruption by meddlers.  To my way of thinking, people are the only critters that show a bit of jealousy when it comes to other people and their friendships.  It is ridiculous!  But, that said, those in the critter world just don't care about all of the drama in the human world.  They just live the way they feel.  Pretty neat.

  The old dog, Mr. PJ, has been feeling a good bit better since his surgery.  He now actually looks forward to his daily walks.  While he was ill, his walking was more like trudging and at a tremendously slow pace.  I had time to observe a lot of things during these snail-paced meanderings.  One of the things that I noticed was that a juvenile gray squirrel seemed to be following us.  At first, it lingered in the treetops but was never too far from our path.  Later, the little squirrel would often come down from the tree and busy itself on the ground.  Now that the old dog is better, our hikes have sped up a bit.  He does his own thing off-leash.  He takes a walk down the lower part of the yard near the marsh.  That little squirrel seems elated that Mr. PJ is better as now the squirrel follows more closely.  As soon as we get down near the old oak in the front yard, the squirrel stays within a few feet of the dog.  The dog, however, seems oblivious to the friendship-offering critter.  He plods along unaware that he has a miniature shadow.  

  It amuses me that this unlikely pair take the daily walks together.  Normally, the dog would be chasing the squirrel and the squirrel would be high in the treetops but not with this duo!  They are buddies to the end!  I am supposing that as the weather chills and food gets hard to find, I had better stick a few dog treats in my pocket so Mr. PJ can share a snack with his little buddy.  That would be a nice gesture.