A near sighted squirrel

I live in South Louisiana and we were required to evacuate due to Hurricane Gustav. We went to my sister’s home in Collinsville, Ms. She has a pleasant 3 bedroom home that sits atop a heavily wooded hill. The front porch overlooks about a 2-3 acre lawn that has a line of trees separating the house from the road. So sitting on the front porch is very relaxing and therapeutic.

On Tuesday I was sitting on the front porch fully absorbed in a business book. Out of the corner of my eye I detected some movement on the porch and glanced over to see what was intruding. There was a squirrel walking along the porch within a foot of me. I guess I had been very still and it had not perceived me to be a threat.

The squirrel was walking along the porch, looking for morsels of food. My sister has a couple of small dogs and one of them had left a small chew toy on the front porch. The squirrel found the chew toy and began to examine it. The toy was actually larger than the squirrel's head, but that did not prevent the squirrel from getting a grip on the toy and walking off with it. I thought about making a loud noise with the idea that the squirrel would be frightened and drop the toy. But I decided to just watch. The squirrel scampered off into the woods with its new found treasure. I know it was thinking it had discovered a large bundle of food. Poor squirrel …unfortunately the chew toy will only help to clean its teeth.