It was Sunday, March 15th when I made this trek to Elizabeth Park, then bopped across the Grosse Ile Free Bridge to spend the afternoon at the alpaca farm and the airport. You can read about that adventure here if you missed the post.
Really, I was not trying to pack in a lot of sightseeing in lieu of the Coronavirus, which was slowly beginning to set parameters on what we could and couldn’t do for our day-to-day activities. I was merely taking advantage of a sunny, clear day here in Southeast Michigan. Our weather is often changeable and fractious, so to have a great weather day on the cusp of Spring was almost unthinkable. Therefore, I seized the opportunity to get out and enjoy the day.
I strolled around beautiful Elizabeth Park and took a few scenic shots, which I’ll use in another post. But I had my sights set on taking some pictures at the tree with all the bird feeders, which I’ve nicknamed “Birdie Nirvana” so I was prepared with peanuts, sunflower seeds, (both oilers and shelled) and my camera. I approached the tree where the feeders were hanging, then scattered those treats on the nearby memorial stone, like I’ve done many times before. Then I stepped back near a tree in anticipation of the “wildlife” coming for breakfast.
There was a wee bit of action as a black squirrel scoped me out, as if contemplating whether my goodies might be an improvement over the usual calisthenics on the bird feeders with their pesky baffles …
… then he proceeded headfirst, inching slowly down the trunk, with its mottled-looking bark.
Meanwhile, from his perch in the same tree, a Blue Jay screeched a note of appreciation for the offerings and quickly flew down to grab a snack.
The black squirrel was clearly amazed (and annoyed) with the brazen Blue Jay’s presence, but meandered away from him and over to scope out the treats.
I got a few shots in, when suddenly, in the still of the morn, I heard a car door slam nearby, so I turned around. An older gentleman was approaching me and gave me a wave and asked “are you here to feed the critters too?” I nodded and said “yes, I just laid out some treats for them.” “I see that” he acknowledged with an approving glance to the ground, then held up a bag of tortilla chips and announced “I didn’t have anything in the house, and they like their goodies, so I brought these along.”
He struggled to tear open the bag and finally ripped it by using his teeth. Once the bag was open, he sprinkled its contents onto the memorial stone, mixing and mingling chips with some of the treats I had just laid down. There were plenty of goodies for our furry and feathered friends now.
We chitchatted about the beautiful Winter day and the tree with the bird feeders, so I shared what info I had gleaned for a blog post I wrote about this memorial stone near the tree, which honors a woman named Mary Ann Price. He was interested in that story and that caused more chatter, as I told him about my blog. During our conversation I learned we both lived in the same city, enjoyed feeding the birds and squirrels and regularly made a 15-mile round trip to Trenton just to enjoy Elizabeth Park. He said he sometimes brought his camera along with the treats; not today though. Today he brought his wife, whom he waved to intermittently, while she waited patiently in the car with the motor running.
During that conversation, the black squirrel had departed and unfortunately no more critters ventured forth. The gentleman seemed reluctant to leave and finally did so, and, as he opened the car door I heard him say “that girl comes here …” and then the conversation abruptly ended once the car door closed. She waved to me, as did he and they drove off.
Holy Guacamole! (Or lack thereof.)
Well, I was solo again and back to the business of waiting on more birds and squirrels to show up. Given the lack of critter activity, I wondered if I should walk an additional lap around Elizabeth Park, then return here. I opted to wait – it was Sunday after all so I embraced the expression “where’s the house on fire” … just slow down and relax!
Finally the black squirrel returned and scoped out the additional treats. He looked at me, then at the feast that awaited him. “Well, dig in kid” I told him.
He gave the offerings the usual sniff test …
… but tortilla chips were not his first choice – perhaps they were boring without a side of salsa or guacamole?
Suddenly the Jay came back for an encore performance of “How to Enjoy a Peanut” and taunting the squirrel just a little. Once again the black squirrel watched this wily bird’s scamming methods, but he wisely decided not to tangle with this peanut-eating foe, after taking a closer look at the Jay’s pointy beak.
Instead, he wandered over to the other side of the memorial stone to check out the goodies from that vantage point.
Peanuts rule!
Well, silly me … I was not thinking like a critter. My eyes could see chips all over and around the memorial stone, but my black furry friend’s nose quickly picked up the scent of peanuts. “Ah, peanuts – I’d love me some peanuts” is what he seemed to say as I watched his nose push aside the tortilla chips to grab a peanut and he began to munch happily. He must have been in his glory, since no other squirrels joined him for breakfast, nor did any birds.
This squirrel was in hog heaven!
So, hoping to salvage a few photos from this adventure, I took a slew of shots of Mr. Squirrel feasting on peanuts and seeds.
With no apparent prospect of more critters gathering ‘round, I finished up my walk and headed to the car and drove to the alpaca farm.
It seems peanuts rule, though I’m sure those tortilla chips didn’t go to waste and had a little salsa or guacamole been deposited near the memorial stone, I’m sure they’d have been a bigger draw – just sayin’.
A friend of mine recently posted this picture of a squirrel wearing a sombrero and serape. I knew I’d find an opportunity to use it and today, Cinco de Mayo, is perfect don’t you think?
Cinco de Mayo also gives me a chance to use this kinda kitschy photo of Yours Truly taken in Tijuana, Mexico four decades ago, in the Fall of 1980.
Hopefully a taco for Taco Tuesday is on today’s menu for you?!
[Photo courtesy of The Mind Circle]
Linda Schaub
WALKIN', WRITIN', WIT & WHIMSY 
Oh so cute, even you riding the donkey/zebra. 🙂 I did finally buy a bag of peanuts also. From your post,they must be the prize at the feeders. I have not given any out yet. I will take them with on the next bird adventure.
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Glad you liked it Sandra – those little black squirrels, like the gray squirrels, are fun to photograph. The expressions on their faces sometimes – you see the expressions more than the fox squirrels who are more into antics (like Parker). Now that you bought a bag of peanuts, I’ll look for some more squirrel pictures from you going forward. I started following you when a fellow blogger, Fred, forwarded me a link to your “Mittens” blog post. Peanuts do rule at the feeders. This gentleman was very nice, even kind of apologetic about not having anything but tortilla chips and did not want to disappoint the birds. 🙂 I have another post that I’ve not done yet about Elaine, who regularly walks at Elizabeth Park and takes a few pounds of food daily, some peanuts for the squirrels and a couple of pounds of corn for the ducks. We stood and talked about feeding the critters for at least an hour that frosty February day.
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I am going to try them in my backyard feeder. It is raining today. So I will save them to put out for a sunny day to see who comes to the table. 🙂
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Hope you get a crowd Sandra and no doubt a few Jays and Cardinals as well. In my walk today I saw one of those picnic tables made for squirrels – it looks like a mini version of a picnic table you’d see in a park or a camping site, only sized for squirrels. 🙂 I didn’t take the camera today as it was really gray out, so tomorrow if it is sunnier, I’ll get a picture of it for in a future post. I hope I remember what street I went down.
I was looking for a house where they put out dog treats for people that walk their dogs … I found it finally. It is metal canister with a flip-down lid, a thoughtful touch with free dog treats and you just reach in and take one for your pooch. I read a story about a guy who was laid off and had some wood pieces and decided to fashion one of these squirrel picnic tables. He gave a few away, then people asked if he took orders – he’s got a thriving business growing for these cute squirrel feeders.
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What a great idea, the dog treats and the man making a business out of his handy work making tables. I may have seen the tables in videos before. You wouldn’t think a cardinal could pick up a peanut. It will be fun to see. I will put some out today.
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Well today was sunny and I took the camera to take photos of that house with the dog treats and the squirrel table – I could not find the squirrel table, but I will look for it next sunny day. I did find the dog treats and took some pictures along with the homeowner’s front yard. They have a corner house, double lot and no grass – just ground cover for the entire front yard. There was a carpet of ivy and they have many ceramic or stone ornaments within the garden – lots of frogs and a turtle and ceramic mushrooms. Lots of tulips – very pretty, so I was there taking photos quite a while. The cardinals do a good job, even though they have smaller beaks than the jay and are not as pushy as the jays are.
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Sounds beautiful, it will be fun to see it. 🙂
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I am looking forward to seeing the pictures and hope they don’t disappoint. Will look this weekend. I was going to look at them this morning but I ended up going to bed a little earlier and sleeping in later to get a good night’s sleep … I never even got to Reader at all last night so will busy tonight catching up. I am going to head out this morning shortly … it is not as pretty out today, but will take the camera anyway … who knows what may cross my path? I have probably taken 300+ pics since Sunday. Camera is getting a workout! Have a good day Sandra.
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I look forward to seeing them, I went out early today, it was the Flower Moon this morning. It was so bright and beautiful, no fog this time. And came back and walked to the pond. I have not done that in a while. Oh, and I was watching the geese along the path this morning. They were eating the heads off of the dried up dandelion plants. I have never seen them do that. Another reason to not spray them. Good food for the geese. Have a good day also.
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I heard the Flower Moon was the last Super Moon this year so glad you could see it, without fog, like the last Super Moon. I have never seen geese eat the heads of the dandelions, whether yellow ones or dried up ones. But there is a lot of grassy areas at the Park so maybe there is no shortage of grass that they would go to dandelions. It is a good reason not to spray. I saw some Cabbage Whites Sunday and again yesterday – seeing them was like it was more like Summer. Our nice weather ends tonight – temps are dropping like a rock tonight and stay cold and ugly weather to Monday (maybe parts of Monday too).
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I’m seeing a black squirrel for the first time, they r cute.ha ha” tortilla chips without guacamole ” was hilarious ,anyway he had his feast though the blue Jay showed up it didn’t affect the squirrel much.Nice story.
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Yes, those black squirrels are cuties Bindya – they are much smaller than the Fox squirrels and quite timid around humans. They generally hide when you put out peanuts, but gradually they’ll make a wide circle around you and the treats before honing on them. Do you have gray squirrels sharing the trees with the beautiful birds where you live? That blue jay’s beak is pretty intimidating, but the lure of peanuts and sunflower seeds won out for sure. 🙂
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Yes we have here plenty of grey squirrels ,though they look cute, they destroy our window panes by gnawing at the wood 😁
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The little buggers!! A few months ago, squirrels chewed through the telephone wire covering, exposed the wire and I lost my landline. I need it for work as I work from home. The telephone repairman said squirrels are his best customers for telephone wire repair!
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True ,sometimes they pester us with their naughtiness😄
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You don’t usually feature that squirrel. He’s cute 🙂
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Yes, you are right Ellie – this one is at Elizabeth Park and he sure is cute. I have a few around the house and they are quite skittish, although finally, the one black squirrel at the house is feeling more comfortable with my presence. That’s a relief as I am afraid they will bolt if they see me and run into the street and be hurt or killed. He was in his glory – the only squirrel so he could feast to his heart’s content.
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“That girl…” must have made your day! I used to enjoy chatting with people who were walking near the water in NY. A few were regulars, and some I never saw twice.
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Yes it did Anne – and it seems like the enjoyment of nature brings out the gift of gab for all people.
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Adorable pics and writing, Linda! 🙂
I’m smiling on the 5th of May. Cheerz!
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Glad to give you a smile on this Cinco de Mayo Uncle Tree – this little squirrel sure was adorable and lucky to be the only one feasting at this breakfast table. 🙂
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Perfect post for Cinco de Mayo, which is also Taco Tuesday. It was nice reading about your chat with the gentleman who brought the tortilla chips. Who knows when we will be able to have casual conversations with strangers like that again!
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Thanks Laurie. I decided while I was still at that Park it would be the perfect post for Cinco de Mayo. The man looked apologetic that he had no regular “bird treats” but couldn’t arrive empty-handed. Probably the term “Taco Tuesday” had not been coined the last time Cinco de Mayo was on a Tuesday.
I know that casual conversations going forward will have people standing several paces away and I hear that the handshake might become a thing of the past. I have one more chat to write about – Elaine, a woman I met at this same Park who walks every day and feeds the ducks and squirrels on her daily walks. We spent an hour chattin’ it up on a frosty February Sunday.
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Dear Miss “Cinco de Mayo”……………………………………..you looked so pretty and I love your long reddish hair…………………………..AND ………………………of course Mr. Squirrel “Cinco de Mayo”
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Thanks Ann Marie – our tour group said that every tourist in Tijuana had to buy some vanilla, a little bottle of Tequila with a worm in it and have their picture taken on the donkey in a sombrero. My mom saw the picture and said “you let them put that hat on your head after I always told you never to put someone else’s hat on your head!?” Oops! 🙂 That squirrel was a whole lot cuter with his sombrero and serape.
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Hi Linda,
I do not get notifications of your posts anymore so I came a-visiting. I have been busy with school work but I am glad you are getting the early days of Spring with all your friends. The black squirrel is beautiful- I have been looking for squirrels here but apparently, they don’t like the desert- is that quite true?
I am sure they would pick the peanuts instead of the tortilla chips – I would too- they must know about keto and all.
It looks like there is no snow there and the ground is all back to normal. I hope you are doing well, Linda- loved the picture of you in Mexico- did your mom take that picture?
Susie
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Hi Susie – I did not forget about you, but knew you were busy with the end of the school year, so I was not sending you anything. I have published more posts than usual the last few weeks. Before, when you were at school on site, you were reading posts on the shuttle bus. I am glad you did see this squirrel post because I had taken so many photos the last few months that I was really backed up on using them – hard to believe, and I have some pictures from long treks from last Summer. I did put my camera away for all of April to keep me from fiddling around my face in a public, except the shots I took of the squirrels eating their Easter cookies I made for them, but other than that I never used the camera at the Park for an entire month. Now, the Park is closed, due to COVID-19. If you did not see this post – I am not happy about that and it was not the Governor who closed all the parks in our City, but it was the Mayor as we had too many COVID-19 deaths and cases. I miss going there. This is the post from my last day at Council Point Park:
Funny that you mention no snow Susie, because we had such a mild Winter and very little snow, even though they predicted a lot of snow, however, we are expecting snow flurries this Friday night. Strange weather – very erratic and wacky and I we had 80 degrees F (26C) Saturday and 75 F (23C) on Sunday. This was way above normal, and all this week we’ve been below normal. If we have snow, it will break a record – weather has been odd to say the least.
I am doing well. Hope you are in the home stretch of your studies and will be free to enjoy yourself a little. I am glad you liked the photo taken in Mexico. I was in a tour group and we took a 10-day trip along the coast of California, beginning in San Francisco and ending up in Los Angeles. We had a day trip to San Diego and crossed over to Tijuana. The vendor who owned the donkey and backdrop charged for a picture on the donkey.
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Do the black squirrels act any different from the brown squirrels? From your pictures they seem less timid. They have a beautiful black coat on them.
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They are actually really timid and will hide by a tree until I move on, even at the house, and sometimes just run over and grab a peanut and run back near a bush for cover. Once they get to the peanuts, they’ll stay there and I can get pictures – it is getting them there that is tough. The black squirrels are pretty and they do have very glossy coats. This one was enjoying his food too much – no fear, just apprehension about the jay across from him. 🙂
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Great photos you captured of the squirrels. They are darn cute. I can’t imagine them enjoying tortilla chips, that’s my thing ;-)! Nice that you met a new friend who shares the love of sharing treats for the critters. I absolutely adore the photo of you from 1980! Your smile is so heart-warming!
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Glad you liked the photos Shelley -that squirrel was a cutie and he had mixed feelings about those tortilla chips, but once the peanuts and seeds were gone, I am sure he was first in line to eat them. Yes, this gentleman was very nice and a nature lover as well. Glad you liked the photo from 1980. I was on a 10-day tour along the California coast and we had a one-day trip to San Diego and then on to Tijuana. It was fun. I was smiling big time and got home and my mom saw the photo and said “didn’t I always tell you not to put any hat on your head but your own?” (Oops!!) 🙂
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Yes, I enjoyed the photos. You’re more knowledgable about squirrel habits than I am, I trust that you know best when they’d consume the chips :-)!
LOL – I wonder what your mom would say about the virus and what should be touched or not? Wouldn’t it be nice if all we had to worry about now was not getting cooties from someone else’s hat?! 😉
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I think they’d exhaust all other “squirrel food” then go for the chips – like you, I’d have them gone sooner. If you’re still eating chips that is. You said you were staying away from them.
My mother was pretty horrified about the sombrero as when she was a kid, she went to a Catholic all-girls school and one girl got lice and the whole class got lice. She described her mother using a “nit comb” to take them out and she had long curly hair and her mother made her get it cut short and I think she said they shaved it off before she contaminated the entire family. So she always warned me not to try on hats – apparently the school incident was because the head lice “jump” from head to head. My mom was not as concerned as me about the seasonal flu. We both got shots, but I gave her a bad cold one time and she couldn’t get out all Winter and got walking pneumonia – after that I was obsessive about ensuring she didn’t get sick despite her saying “it’s not your fault” or “I’m not sick.”
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I haven’t had Tostitos since mid-January, and I don’t miss them. I have found an alternative, that I seem to be able to manage not overindulging on. They sell them at Woodman’s, I like the sea salt or the Nacho flavors. https://sietefoods.com/collections/tortilla-chips
Head lice is easily spread, and I remember helping out at my daughter’s school to help screen for it. Ew – did you know that all hair dressers, first comb through your hair to double check for them when you first sit down for a cut?!
That was nice of you to protect your mom. I wonder what she’d be thinking now about all the C-Virus?
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Are these still crispy without carbs? I miss the crunch of things like pretzels … I love Goldfish whole grain crackers but they don’t have texture (not that lack of crunch stopped me from eating them).’ I have been snacking on trail mix which is good for you, but all the nuts, while high in anti-oxidants also have a lot of fat (though the good fats, but fat nevertheless).
Yes, I was protective of my mom getting sick again after I had the bad cold and she got it and got pneumonia. I became very aware of germs and a bit of a germaphobe and I think that is what is wigging me out about C-virus. I am sure she’d be pretty horrified … she had enough worries in later years after she got cellulitis in her legs and the fear of getting bitten by a bug, even a mosquito bite could trigger a flare-up. I think I said she’d be aghast at the tiny ants. The carpenter ants we had were bad enough. Now there is one tree, an ornamental and no big trees thanks to the Carpenter ants.
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No, they weren’t crispy, well … maybe slightly crispy. I’ve resorted to the Siete Chips when I want a crunch, or a small handful of Macadamia or Brazil nuts satisfy my crunch cravings now.
It was wise to be protective of your mom. She definitely would’ve been at high risk for COVID.
Ants can be quite the pain. My mom used to have a big problem with them and paid for an exterminator service twice a year that sprayed the perimeter of the house. That seemed to help.
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I have two crowns and bought some Brazil nuts as I read somewhere they were so good for the magnesium for your brain and I was afraid I’d break a tooth. Went and bought a mallet and a chopping board and chopped them up, but still didn’t get them all that small. Ate them, but haven’t bought them since, or almonds for the same reason. The ones with the skins are the healthiest, not blanched or slivered. I’ve never had macadamia nuts. But you just got a crown and not worried about Brazil nuts, maybe I should not worry either. One is 2002 and the other one maybe five years old.
For years we were sprayed for spiders and centipedes just in the basement perimeter, the perimeter of the garage and the house – that was twice a year. We stopped after we got our first canary. We never had these little ants before – they are driving me nuts today. I thought they abated – the rain might be making it worse.
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We buy the unroasted, raw nuts, so they haven’t been too hard at all. Almonds have too many carbs, so we’ve stayed away from them. The macadamia nuts, Brazil nuts, and pumpkin seeds are our go-to’s now.
Yesterday I picked up my first wood tick just sitting out on our deck while Copper was wandering the yard. I have no idea how it found me but it did. I HATE them as much as you despise ants!
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Maybe that is why i found them so hard … worried about cracking a crown. I like pumpkin seeds and I put unshelled sunflower seeds in my oatmeal every morning. Yikes on the wood tick – I’ve not seen any nor any mosquitoes but the hot weather and all this rain will bring mosquitoes fast. I’m watching an ant scaling the wall as I write this. Sigh. At least the ants are not deadly like the ticks.
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I’ve been eating a lot of raw peanuts lately. Great squirrely shots! I love your friend’s squirrel/sombrero shot! Funny! 🙂
Great ’80 shot! Super cute! 🙂
Stay safe and viral-free…
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Glad you liked the squirrely shots Tom. You and my little squirrel friend will stay healthy with all that good-tasting protein. I saved that squirrel-in-the-sombrero picture knowing I could use it with these tortilla chips photos taken earlier. As to my picture, I was in a tour group in a 10-day vacation going along the coast of California and we made a one-day trip to San Diego and Tijuana – we had a fun day. Glad you liked the picture – 40 years ago. Sigh!!
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I forgot to mention about the squirrel in the sombrero and the poncho- a real Sancho Poncho?
It is the cutest, wonder how they got him to do that- is it photoshopped .
Linda, I thought you were on a carousel, I didn’t realise it was a real donkey because he had stripes. I am sorry.
And the dip- of course he wanted a dip.
What will Parker and others do, Linda?
Susie
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I don’t know how they did that photo Susie – a woman posted the picture on a fellow squirrel lover’s Facebook page. I knew I had the tortilla chips pictures so decided to save the photo. I believe this is the Penn State University squirrel. There was a student a few years ago that took pictures of this squirrel all the time – she must have photoshopped it as he’d have knocked it off.
The guy with the donkey painted like a zebra had so many hats and objects behind my head, it could look like a carousel. I suppose I looked like the female version … my boss has an affinity for those characters and has many paintings, posters of the pair and a few statues of Don Quixote as well. He is a fan of the “tilting at windmills” story.
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This was a masterful post! And Linda – I almost missed it because you know how it is when we get caught up on blogs- we might start with the most current post? Well today I was getting caught up and decided to go back one!
Truly glad I did
The squirrel with the sombrero was woven in seamlessly – and the whole post was perfect for cinco de mayo
And you are so absolutely beautiful in that Mexico photo from 1980! Your kindness shows in the small and soft touch to the beauty (and I mean that without being cheesy)
And lastly –
I would prefer peanuts To chips too!
Ha
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Wow, my computer had a blip while responding to you and I wanted to reply before I left on my walk – I am running late today. I feel like I am scrambling around to keep up in everything I do … I am behind in Reader … I did that by posting three times in four days … I really have a ton of photos accumulated since we had a beautiful Winter (my kind of Winter) and Spring. We’ve got cold weather and a threat of snow flurries and a hard freeze for three days in row, but could still get out. I saw the funny picture of the squirrel and knew I had to mix it into this blog post as well as my four-decades-old photo from Tijuana – a little fun and nature in the same post. Thank you for your comments on my picture – I always tried to get a few pictures of myself from each trip as I always traveled alone (but in a tour group) … this vendor had people lined up for fun shost. Glad you liked it.
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hope your day is going well and thanks for the reply.
and this week I posted thrice in a 30 hour window – so sometimes we do what we need to do – ha
—
hope there is not too much cold on the way – 🙂
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Yes, we get caught up in posting, then realize we will get behind in reading other’s posts by doing so. We do have a hard freeze tonight and tomorrow night and in between some snow flurries – they said a possible coating, but not confirmed that yet. Ugh! Last weekend it was 80 and 75 respectively for Saturday/Sunday.
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wow – well sending warm wishes your way to get through what will likely be the last cold spell – hopefully 🙂
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Thanks Yvette – it is lightly snowing right now!
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We had record cold a few days ago
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I read that – and the New England States were supposed to get 9-10 inches of snow in some places – we have lots of cold, some snow showers and had five different rainfalls yesterday. High of 40 today, 70 on Wednesday – we are having 30-degree differences in temps in a matter of 24-36 hours lately … makes no sense at. all.
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No sense at all!
Agree
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Stay warm
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one of my favorite snacks is kettle chips with cashews! No squirrel is coming near it!
Is that a Zebra your riding?
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That sounds like a good combo Wayne; I’ll have to try that sometime. I love cashews. No, as far as I recall (all those years ago – yikes), it was a donkey and he had painted it with stripes like that … I could be wrong though. It was not a tall animal like a horse or zebra. Pretty colorful setup he had going there that made for a fun picture. Our whole tour group was getting pictures taken.
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This is too funny- they really won’t choose anything over a peanut huh? I love the throwback pic from Cinco De Mayo! It looks like you were having the best time! Thanks for sharing, Linda 🙂
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Glad you liked the photos – that squirrel was a cutie Mackenzie … both the black one chomping on treats and the one in a sombrero and serape. I did have fun on that trip Mackenzie … in fact that was the trip to California I mentioned that I took that I mentioned to you when I first followed you and you still lived in California- it originated in San Francisco for three days, along the coast to L.A.. This was a one-day side trip we took and went to San Diego and Tijuana … we had fun. Tour guide said getting some vanilla, a bottle of tequila with a worm in it and having your picture taken at this vendor were must-sees!
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Awwww yay!!! Love that it was in CA , and even better yet- SD!!! I loveee San Diego ☺️ but how interesting- tequila with a worm in it 🤔 now that’s a new one! Lol
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Yes, beautiful San Diego – Tijuana was just part of the day trip to San Diego and a long day, and that’s what our tour guide said. Brought home vanilla for my mom – it was quite potent and she saved it for holiday baking. Next time I went to Mexico it was Acapulco (part of a cruise) and got her a bigger bottle. 🙂
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Ohhh using the real vanilla makes such a difference in baked goods!! I bet she loved it!!
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Yes, it did make a difference – very tasty!
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Ok, when did Cinco de Mayo become a thing in the midwest? I have paid attention to May 5 for a long time because of a wedding anniversary. I don’t recall the date being associated with any kind of celebration event before the mid-late 90s? Or was I just never recovered enough from St Patrick’s day to notice? 🙂
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Well JP, I’m not sure when Cinco de Mayo became so popular in the Midwest – same time as Taco Tuesday perhaps? Here in Michigan there is a large portion of Detroit known as Mexicantown. Normally, you could go down to Southwest Detroit almost any time of day/night and Mexican music is blaring in the streets and there are many places to go for Mexican food. So I think it is pretty big here. But the Detroit are is diverse – we also have Corktown (Irish part of Detroit and home of the famous “Old Shillelagh Pub”) and Greektown (home to lots of Greek restaurants and bakeries and also Greek music blaring in the streets). We used to have fun ethnic festivals in downtown Detroit in the 80s and 90s and we always went on Fridays to sample the food and listen to music at Hart Plaza.
The Mexican and Greek festivals were the biggest draw, but they are long gone now.
Happy Belated Anniversary to you and Mrs. JP!
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Cute post Linda, and cute photo of you! It looks like a zebra you’re sitting on?
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Thanks Joni – glad you liked the post and the photo. It was the first trip I took alone. I had traveled to see friends of the family who lived in Puerto Rico and stayed with them during Spring Break in senior year and had traveled with them in Spain for three weeks but this was me traveling and hooking up with a tour group. Everyone was very nice – I was the only single person on the tour. It was a donkey and he painted it like a zebra – I’m guessing just to make the photo more colorful?
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You were very brave. I went to Mexico first in 1986 for the first of three Mexican trips, but went with a friend to Puerto Vallarta, then two years later to Cancun which I liked better as the beaches were cleaner. Would not go to Mexico now though, too much crime! and I did not like having to be so careful about what you ate.
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Joni – well maybe not brave because I would not have gone to visit without being in a tour group. I was with a tour group and spent ten days with the same group going down the California coast. We had a destination every day and went by bus wherever we went and as a group. We had organized meals three times a day but places like San Francisco, we were on a tour of the sights then had a free afternoon to wander at our leisure. So we were never on our own while in Tijuana. We were there a few hours but did not eat or drink anything (we were told not to). In Acapulco it was a one-day excursion while on a cruise ship. So in that case, I went on my own on the cruise. We had a singles table where all of the single people sat. I had a nice group at the table. We were able to book tours in advance of the cruise and I did that through the travel agent and that morning/afternoon, we were told where to go and went down the gangplank and a tour guide was waiting for us. I would tell people I traveled alone but really, the only time I was really by myself was flying to/from the destination and in the hotel room/cruise ship room. They didn’t usually book us for an event every night either, but I have to tell you that I went to a three-week Russia/four Scandinavian countries land tour in 1983. They had really packed in a lot of stuff each day. We had a tour guide for each country and in Russia, we had one tour guide for Leningrad, one for Moscow. All were very knowledgeable and all spoke perfect English. So one night we had nothing going on (a one-night boat trip to cross the Baltic Sea. It was not a fancy boat and we had dinner before the crossing. I went to bed at 8:00 p.m. I was so tired and we didn’t land until the next morning and left the boat in the morning. I decided we had many hotel rooms – so I had a long suitcase and would leave it unfolded and unpacked so there was less to deal with everytime we left for a new destination. I’d get out what I needed to wear, and pretty much left the rest of the suitcase untouched.
My older self thinks that these trips and the pace would be exhausting now!
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I agree, I couldn’t keep up with that pace now. The plus side is my younger self would find talking to people I don’t know scary, but my older self wouldn’t have any problem at all!
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How did we do it? When I go running out the door late for my walk, I wonder how I got up at 4:00, and even earlier in Winter to shovel before I left for work, and would always take an earlier bus if very snowy.
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Just the other day A rare white squirrel was spotted in Scotland… it was all rather exciting.
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Hi Michael – I just Googled it and read the story. Interesting and very cute too. We don’t have the squirrels with the big tufts on their ears here. We do have a white deer in one of the Michigan Metroparks and it is an oddity because her two fawn are a regular brown color. She is pure white.
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