Friday, December 11, 2009

Oh no you don't!!!



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.

On the squirrel front:
One complete tree w/ nest remains.
One trunk and large branch of Cottonwood tree remains
Small set of trees in corner of fence remains (heavily trimmed)
The rest of the trees are down and stacked into firewood.
Tree crew was not back today for whatever reason.

Tuesday morning. The squirrel nest is gone! He's packed up
and moved in the night. Two hours later the cutting crew
arrived, down came the squirrel trees. I wonder who
tipped off the squirrel?

Thursday: Squirrel has returned, his nest is now in
a tree away from the power lines. He is climbing
the power pole and using the trunk line like his
private highway once more. All ends well.

14 comments:

Romeo Morningwood said...

Nature finds a way.
Quite a testament to the whisper thin illusion that "we" are in control of our environment.

Much as I detest those little buggers and their shovelling about my potted plants all summer long...
I gotta hand it to the little bastard.

Hey don't feel weird, I would be watching that story unfold too!
It sure beats watching re-runs of Matlock.

LDahl said...

Hehe, yeh I have my fingers crossed for the little bugger and the trees.
The Cottonwood is an old man tree. He has survived tornadoes floods and ice storms. Not to mention the attack of local kids trying to build a treehouse in his mid-section. He in truth, is a wreck of a tree; he lives on, ragged, but proud. We will see if he lasts through the day. As he is so huge around, I hope the cutting crew don't question his lack of tape too closely.

Unknown said...

Oh Lilah I love this story. So tell me did the cutting crew discover the removal of the green tape yet?
Nature sure dos have it's way.
Hope you are thawing out by now.At least for a short while.

simon said...

I think thats a fantastic story! :o)

LDahl said...

So far it's Monday and still haven't been able to get out. Jon (youngest son)has been getting in, but with much difficulty.
Had a heat wave today at 16+ but the wind was really whipping around and I couldn't "Love" being out in it too much. My little car is dead, dead, deadski... it's poor little brave heart stopped by the cold.

On the squirrel front:
One complete tree w/ nest remains.
One trunk and large branch of Cottonwood tree remains
Small set of trees in corner of fence remains (heavily trimmed)
The rest of the trees are down and stacked into firewood.
Tree crew was not back today for whatever reason.
Stay tuned for further developments!
:)))

albina said...

Oh, Lilah! I was loving every word!!!! And thank you for stopping by, as always! Warm HUGS in these wintry cold times :)

Merisi said...

Squirrels rule! :-)

Here, we have Red Quirrels, when they are young, they are black, very cute always.

Merry Christmas!

(Would you believe that last night I was thinking of you? Planning on searching you via google - LDahl should be quite distinctive, I though - and then, your comment this morning - sheer serendipity!)

LDahl said...

Albina! So happy to see you here, thank you for your comment...I do have a soft spot for the little bushy tailed rats.

LDahl said...

Hi Merisi! We have red squirrels here in central Kansas, but they are gray in eastern Kansas (and they are a very silly and playful lot) I got the opportunity to hold one of the gray babies once. I couldn't believe how soft they were! I could almost write a book on the crazy squirrel experiences I've had. Most people here feed the birds and fight the squirrels off, I one the other hand,feed the squirrels and the birds can have what is left over. :))))
Merry Christmas to you, may all your holiday wishes come true.
Hugs!
~LDahl

valerie walsh said...

we are leading a double life my friend! My days are spent watching the wildlife and keeping tabs on the birds and squirrels, deer and mice :) Pallie, we are all hotties in the big collective pool :D Have a most beautiful holiday and know that it means alot to me that you are my pal and that you read my boring old story ;)

LDahl said...

Val, sweetie you are da bomb!!
Fat old blizzard on it's way here... :(
Thank god we had my sons big church wedding two days ago, and that is safely behind us! All family is safely at home again and all traveling is over for us until next year.

Not looking forward to the idea of being snowed in again, last batch is still on the ground, but I've lived in Lincoln Neb, and you learn how to survive lots of snow or you just don't make it there. :)))
I just hope the power stays on, it gets so boring without movies or internet. May be an old fashion Christmas around these parts. White and dark!
Merry Christmas!
(Silly girl, your stories are NEVER boring!)

neena maiya (guyana gyal) said...

This is the 'bestest' story ever. We don't have squirrels here so you know, I find them endearing. I love stories about them.

I wonder how he knew!

Can't the electricity company just trim the trees? I don't know, that's why I'm asking.

LDahl said...

I love 'em too, little tree rats! I have had a lot of wildlife in the back of the house, which is nice because there is a five lane street in front of the house that has some of the heaviest traffic in town.(It was just fields out here when my parents bought the house and land about 40 years ago...progress*bah*)
I also love my family of possums, which I'm sure almost no-one else would love; even youngest son is leery of them, oldest son is not...he gets even the biggest one to drink right out of his cup. I also like the bat that lives in the garage.

When they just trim the trees, the trees recover in a season or two and then there is a LOT of branches that reach right up around the electric lines. Next big storm we have, the power is knocked out and transformers blow and there is often fire or live electric lines down...and the whole neighborhood goes down and powerless...including the large street lights that are along the big street in front; which is a major service route during storms. The good news is, if there is heavy weather of one kind or another, ice, snow, tornado, prairie fire, we are the first to get help. But in exchange we have a lot of city and service company workers making decisions about what lives or dies around our property(And we always get to clean up what they leave behind). Two years ago they did try just to trim the trees along through here, but still got outages so they came back and removed the offending trees. It must have worked because during the blizzard we had Christmas day, the power stayed on without so much a blip.

neena maiya (guyana gyal) said...

Possums. Their huge eyes. I saw one in a park in another country, he came down to look at me! I melted.

Aww, that's sad about the trees, it's such a pity because they absorb some of the traffic noise, and think of all the carbon they suck up.

Progress. sigh.

One of my neighbours has a tree that interferes with another neighbour's electricity. So the tree neighours trim the tree in the weirdest way, it looks like a big woman with very little hair.