Picture of the day - December 7, 2006

A Squirrel Guarding His Treasure

The other day someone told Cheria about a beautiful German Shepherd stray that had been seen wandering around the streets of Damascus, Virginia, so we drove over there yesterday afternoon to look for it. Well, we never did find the dog, but we did cross paths with another furry friend... As we were driving up "Red Hill" towards the cemetery, we saw this grey squirrel carrying a walnut up a tree limb that had broken off and fallen over against a large oak tree. Apparently Mr. Squirrel was using the limb as a gently sloping alternate route up into the tree. Anyway, when I stopped the car and rolled my window down to take a quick picture, the curious rodent stopped in his tracks and looked right back at me. Apparently he was just as curious about us as we were about him! He sat there staring us down for the longest time while I took picture after picture, obviously comfortable that our plans didn't include having him for dinner. But he guarded that prized black walnut like he wasn't at all sure that we wouldn't try to take it away from him! No need to fret, Mr. Squirrel - all we wanted from you was permission to take your picture and share your world for just a few moments, and you graciously gave it to us. I hope you're able to gather plenty of walnuts and enjoy a wonderful winter!   Submit a photo of your own! Picture of the day archives