Daddy, I want a squirrel NOW!

We have a fence in our backyard. We also have squirrels. They are pretty funny squirrels, they sit up in big pine tree in the front yard and yell at you and throw pinecones down when you innocently go to get the mail. They think they own the place. They also are unwilling to descend from the tree tops to the vast expanse of desolate grass that is the backyard. No tree cover there. So, they have come up with a solution to the problem: In order to get from one end to the other they run across the top of the fence. This is as apposed to running through the yard behind the fence, which is full of trees or even of doing as squirrels have done for thousands of years and climbing through the trees. No, the fence is easier. Often they will even race across it, sometimes stopping to fight mid crossing.
Now a little back story. This last spring our valley was hit by several severe wind storms. A great many hundred year old trees were felled in our neighborhood. We escaped relatively unscathed, only a section of the fence was toppled, with a second, adjacent portion fallowing suit in the next storm. This provided us with a nicely framed view in to the neighbor’s yard and little inconvenience to daily life. (Aside from one time when I was taking a nap on the hammock on a Sunday afternoon, and a cat came running through the yard, its ID tags clanging. Scarred me to death! I have a history of being startled by cats and this time I almost feel out of the hammock. It then ran off through the hole in the fence, and gave me a smug look as if to say “I’m not in your yard now, you can’t get me”. Anyway, back to the squirrels.)
One day I was in the kitchen, washing the dishes and gazing out the window, (Probably wondering when my prince will come, that or quoting lines from Arrested Development, probably the second option) when I saw two squirrels on the fence, approaching the hole. The lead squirrel (whom I shall call Number 1) came up to the abyss, looked around for a minute, stepped back and, with a running leap jumped in to the tree behind the fence, scurried up to the top, jumped to the next tree, repeated the process four times and then with a final exertion, gilded (I kid you not, it glided) back on to the other side of the fence. Number 1 then turned and looked back from whence he came, to his companion (whom I shall call Maiden Squirrel) with a look that said plainly, as I am able to read squirrel body language, “Well are you coming?” After a moments deliberation Maiden Squirrel followed her Romeo across his chosen route to the other side, where the two promptly continued on there merry way across the fence. It made my entire day. Running, jumping squirrels, that’s all I need.

XOXO, S

P.S. So I googled squirrels to find a photo for this post and these are some of my favorite pics I came across.