Lazybones!

  I was able to slip out for a much needed break this afternoon.  The old dog was in a sound sleep so a quick hike seemed logical.  His health requires an almost constant companion, as of late, and that companion is me.  My short, but sweet, hike took me along the marsh edge to behind the canebrake.  Being just after noon, there were not too many critters to be found.  Early morning and late afternoon hikes seem to be the best critter-tracking times.  A lone gray squirrel was my only find.

  I watched as this little female squirrel busied herself burying nuts and seeds.  She would scurry about to find an acorn, crack it open then bury her stash.  The cracking is done to keep the nut from sprouting.  The burying is done to give her a food supply come later this winter.  All in all, our little friend will stockpile close to 5000 nuts and seeds before the cold weather sets in.  Some, she will put in her cozy, leaf-lined nest but most she will bury.  The ones in the nest will be eaten only on days when she deems the weather is too inclement to venture out.  On those bad days, she can eat a few nuts or seeds and nibble on the twigs that complete her nest.  On good days, she will be found scurrying about the yard.  Her memory will lead her directly to the nuts she buried months prior.  

  Well, her memory will lead her to where she buried the nuts but sometimes those stockpiled goodies are missing!  While our sweet, little female was busy preparing for winter, a lazy male squirrel was following not too far behind her.  He was digging up the very same nuts that she so carefully buried.  By sitting and observing, I have come to the realization that most male squirrels are lazy and do not think ahead to the future.  They do not build the nest.  They do not stockpile as many foodstuffs.  They are not beyond stealing what their ladylove has worked so hard to gather!  If all the females stopped gathering, the whole lot of them would die of starvation!  No wonder she has to find 5000 acorns!  She is a workaholic and he is lazy to the bone!