Duel in the Sun

Every morning Katie looks out the window hoping to see the squirrels playing on my lawn or up in the trees. She positively quivers if she smells squirrels and nothing will do but I let her out to sniff around. (I always wait until the squirrels are up in the tree, however...) She beelines it to the tree, sniffing furiously and sometimes barking and howling with frustration that the squirrels have eluded her yet again.

Here's the big cedar tree on my front lawn (i.e.: the battleground) with Katie
at its foot, looking up for her nemesis - THE SQUIRREL.


In the background you can see a big oak tree that the squirrels also like to play in, as well as an assortment of other redwood, fir and walnut trees in the neighborhood.

This morning, there was the usual standoff between Squirrel and Katie.
Here's Squirrel, high above and safely watching Katie doing her crazy dog dance around the yard:


And here's Katie, waiting for Squirrel to make a move, any move....


Alas... today, like every other day, Squirrel has wisely scampered away to scold and play another day. But Katie will be waiting and dreaming of squirrels in the meantime.....

A Prairie Wind

Here's another favorite PRAIRIE SCHOOLER design that I stitched up on 18 ct. Davosa fabric, using itty bitty cross stitches. I love to hang up this design when autumn arrives and the leaves are turning colors.

And those squirrels! I've stitched these squirrels with fuzzy tails - using Rainbow Gallery's Whisper - just to give it a little bit of fun texture.

Speaking of squirrels, my wire-haired pointer Katie loves to chase squirrels. We have a few that live in the oak and cedar trees around my house and she dashes out every morning to check if she can surprise a squirrel nibbling nuts on the front lawn. She's come real close a time or two, but the squirrels always manage to high-tail it up the tree and Katie is left leaping and howling underneath in frustration.

Last Sunday Katie and I were taking our morning walk around the town of Healdsburg, and I spied a squirrel in the tree-lined street far in front of us. It had something very large and furry in its mouth. As we approached (and Katie hadn't seen it yet) I realized the squirrel had one of its large babies in its mouth and seemed to be moving it across the street and up into some other trees.

I stopped far enough away to give it time to move across the street. It had to stop every couple of feet to rest with this big, furry, limp baby in its mouth. I squinted to make sure the baby squirrel was alive - its tail twitched every so often, so I guess it was used to being carried like that... Anyway, it continued travelling bit by bit, up the nearest tree, over onto a roof, then across to a group of trees, presumably to another nest.

As they disappeared into the leafy canopy, Katie and I began to walk again...and I hoped the squirrels had found a safe and happy new home for the approaching winter months.