Tinker Art: The Secret Life of Squirrels

Though I hadn't thought I would have anything new to show you this soon, since my last post - I just had to share these photos from our recent foray to one of our favorite parks to feed the ducks. Oh yes, I have been living la vida loca, the last couple of days :-)

Or at least, the local wildlife has been...I will show you what we saw, as we strolled along.

What is that -

over there - on the drinking fountain?

It looks like... can it be -

a squirrel?

Why yes, I believe it is.

What ever is he doing?

Why getting a drink of water, of course!

He was quicker with his fingers, than I was with mine - I couldn't snap the photo quickly enough to capture the times he would reach over with one paw, to flick the handle, and turn it on again.

I dread to think what their water bill will be like, if he ever discovers that if he were on the other side, of the fountain he could reach to hold the tap on, for as long as he wanted...

The girls threw him a piece of bread. If anyone had been barbequing at the park at the time, I would not have been a bit surprised to have seen him toss it on the barbie to toast it...

He was just that kind of a squirrel.

Though he made our outing even more entertaining than usual, I think I'm rather glad we brought our own bottled water with us...

He reminds me of a favorite book my sister and I had when we were little, that depicted all these little creatures playing at the park - swinging on the swings. Sliding down the slide. Teeter-tottering on the see-saw. Monkeying around on the monkey bars.

I don't even recall what the storyline was now, and neither does she...we both loved the teeny tiny little book - it was only about 2"x3" big, at the most - mainly for its glorious, tiny, but intensely colorful illustrations. You might have had to have grown up when we did, back when the world was mostly black and white, to appreciate how wonderous a thing that was, to us. They were tiny, but in our little world, they were mighty.

They made my heart sing, whenever I looked at them. My very favorite illustration was of a little chipmunk in a sailor suit, getting a drink of water from the drinking fountain. I wish I could show it to you, but I can't even find it in the wonderful world of the web. I have no idea now, what the title of the book was - it was my sister's favorite, too, and she can't remember the title, either. When sorting out the house we'd grown up in, we both hunted and searched everywhere for that book. As packed with belongings, memorabilia and books as the house was from four generations living there, it seemed it was the one thing missing. We never could find that one little book again.

Maybe you know of it? Please tell me if you have...apart from just us, I've never met anyone else, who knew of that little book, either.

I think this squirrel may have read it, though.

Comments

That squirrel is a trip!!! Too funny-- so glad you captured it on film. On video-- you would've made $$ at funniest home videos for sure!

Posted by: Elizabeth | November 21, 2007 at 05:46 AM

that is hilarious! go squirrel!!

there's a book like that from my childhood that i can't remember the name of and neither can my mom. it drove me nutty looking for it online!

i hope you find your squirrely book out there somewhere!

Posted by: leah | November 21, 2007 at 06:28 AM

That's amazing! You guys have some pretty special squirrels in San Bernardino.

Posted by: Jill | November 21, 2007 at 06:46 AM

OMW! That is so incredible!!!! I can't believe he figured out how to operate the drinking fountain without assistance!!! I probably could have watched that for an hour!!!

Did you try looking for the book on e-bay? You can find everything on Ebay....

Posted by: Jana | November 21, 2007 at 09:09 AM