
Behind my back yard there is a bit of fencing and a row
of mixed trees. They are under the power lines and two
years ago after a particularly bad ice storm, the power
company did much trimming. The crews were back last
week to mark trees for removal. All of those trees had
green plastic bands on them to indicate they were all
to be cut down and removed. It has snowed here and
we have below zero temps even during the days. I
thought, "Poor squirrels, they will come and cut down
your nest trees just when you need them the most."
Two days ago I was surprised to see a squirrel up
and about in the freezing weather and wondered what
he was up to. Well, he was busy removing the
green bands off his trees, just his trees. He
carried off the bands and I think he stuffed them
in his nest. A couple of hours ago the crew to
cut the trees arrived in their heavy weather
coveralls and hard hats. They kept staring up
at the trees in the corner and the huge Cotton-
wood tree. They seemed quite puzzled. They left
and soon others came to look too. Now they are
out there cutting. I didn't 'rat out' the squirrel and
so far, his trees are still standing.
This is what passes for excitement when we're
snowed in.








