Moose and squirrel

[superbadgirl]

So, I just walked up the hill to Trader Joe's. Not very exciting, except about three blocks up I encountered a red squirrel. It ran right up to me and froze, like squirrels do when they pretend they're invisible (and if they pretend to be invisible, they are invisible) so the gigantic human-creature doesn't hurt them. I expected it to scamper away, which is usually step number 2 during a typical encounter.

It didn't scamper. It looked up at me and I looked down at it. It looked away, then looked back up.

"Hi," I said. "How are you today?"

It didn't respond verbally, but it did nudge my foot with its nose and looked up at me again. I felt a bit like I was being weighed and measured. If that's the case, I think I passed, because the squirrel still didn't run away, even though I took a step. Instead, it nudged my foot again...and then started climbing up my leg.

"No kidding, really?" I said. "For real?"

The squirrel descended my leg. Sized me up some more. Leapt at my other leg and climbed up to my forearm, where it sat for quite a while and looked at me.

It was then that I had a vision of it either 1) jumping on my face and trying to scratch my eyeballs out or 2) starting to talk, calling me Bullwinkle.

I carried on to the grocery store.

Comments

[gategrrl.livejournal.com]

Er..is it possible it had rabies?

Otherwise, what a cool animal story!

[superbadgirl]

Nah, it didn't look dangerous. I didn't remove my hands from my pockets and reach for it, though. :)

[khek.livejournal.com]

Sounds like maybe someone had kept a squirrel for a pet!

[superbadgirl]

Aww, now I kind of want one for a pet. ;)

[moonshayde.livejournal.com]

Eep! Cool story but I hope it wasn't rabid. Rabid squirrels tend to have little fear of people.

[gategrrl.livejournal.com]

Hey -- is that Jack carrying a squirrel in the crook of his arm like a football? Get that squirrel to safety man, make it SAFE!

[superbadgirl]

I'm sure it wasn't (isn't). Seems more likely that it had become friendly with one of the families in the neighborhood.

[librarianstales.livejournal.com]

Wow! What a friendly squirrel!

[seanchaidh.livejournal.com]

OMG, so cute! It makes me miss Squidge,because she'd do that with me. Well, I am her interactive tree as I walk around, a lot faster than my mother can, and she just goes up and down, backward and forward... oh, well.

[superbadgirl]

Heh. It always used to freak me out when my sister's cockatiel would take off flying and end up landing on me. Of course, he was VERY skittish and not very predictable once he'd landed.

[seanchaidh.livejournal.com]

I was really surprised this visit. Squidge let my roommate touch her, and give her a neckrub (of course, she's a smart bird, anyone whow ants to give her a neckrub is a good person, right?). The only thing she didn't seem to like much at first were male voices, but even those she got used to. I guess they're like people and they change with time.

[betacandy.livejournal.com]

It may have expected you to feed it. The ones at the UCLA campus get fed by friendly students so often they would just come up and look at you like, "Well? Where's my dinner?"

Then some of the developed a serious sense of entitlement and did stuff like dropping out of a tree onto the shoulder of someone eating a candy bar, stealing the candy bar, and running off with it.

That is really cute... as long as it didn't carry the plague. Which they can.

[superbadgirl]

LOL, I'm picturing the candy bar thievery. As long as that didn't ever happen to me, I think that's pretty damn funny.

[darksylvia.livejournal.com]

HEEE!! The squirrels have marked you as one of theirs, so that when the day of Squirrle judgment comes and they take over the world, you will be spared!!!

[superbadgirl]

It's funny you should say that. Since my family is all back in Minnesota, we tend to send group emails. In the latest batch, my brother J was being all weird and saying that he thought geese were up to no good. Then my sister L said the deer who habitate the little park by her house were definitely acting iffy. And I couldn't resist and added that neither the geese nor the deer were as big a threat as spiders.

We might all have been wrong. It's the squirrels! ;)

[darksylvia.livejournal.com]

Bwahaha. Oh, the spiders are definitely planning something, but I think my money is on the squirrels. I mean--spiders have already aroused suspicion, being all creepy and *shudder* hairy, but the squirrels are all cute and cuddly. Most people won't see their evil until it is TOO LATE.