We are splooting! #Wordless Wednesday #The heat makes us squirrelly!

Posted on August 26, 2020 by Linda Schaub

Wordless Wednesday – allow your photo(s) to tell the story.

About Linda Schaub

This is my first blog and I enjoy writing each post immensely. I started a walking regimen in 2011 and in 2013 I decided to create a blog as a means of memorializing the people, places and things seen on my daily walks. I have always enjoyed people watching, so my blog is peppered with folks I meet or reflections of characters I have known through the years. Often something piques my interest, or evokes a pleasant memory from my memory bank, so this becomes a “slice o’ life” blog post. I respect and appreciate nature and my interactions with Mother Nature’s gifts is also a common theme. Sometimes the most-ordinary items become fodder for points to ponder over and touch upon. I retired in March 2024 after a career in the legal field. I was a legal secretary for almost 45 years, primarily working in downtown Detroit, then working from my home. I graduated from Wayne State University with a degree in Mass Communications (print journalism) in 1978, though I’ve never worked in that field. I would like to think this blog is the writer in me finally emerging!! Walking and writing have met, shaken hands and the creative juices are flowing in Walkin’, Writin’, Wit & Whimsy. I hope you think so too. - Linda Schaub
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43 Responses to We are splooting! #Wordless Wednesday #The heat makes us squirrelly!

  1. Anne Mehrling says:
    August 26, 2020 at 6:33 am

    Splooting??? The squirrel made me laugh, stretched on that branch.

    Liked by 2 people

    • Linda Schaub says:
      August 26, 2020 at 6:42 am

      It was a new word for me too Anne. I love the sound of this word and I was happy I had pictures to go along with it. A fellow blogger who knows my obvious affinity for squirrels sent me a link to a story in Texas where it is so hot that all the squirrels are plopping down on their stomachs, sprawled out on the ground. People were worried about them. They are on their stomachs to cool off and self-regulate their body temperatures. Apparently dogs and cats do this as well. The first time I saw a squirrel doing this on the perimeter path last 4th of July weekend, I thought it fell from a tree and was injured or paralyzed and I didn’t know what to do. While watching it and wondering what happened, the squirrel got up and scampered away.

      Liked by 1 person

  2. Eliza says:
    August 26, 2020 at 7:32 am

    This is heaven….

    Liked by 1 person

  3. Sandra J says:
    August 26, 2020 at 8:39 am

    I love the one in the tree, I can just hear his thoughts. ” It is so hot” 🙂

    Liked by 2 people

  4. bekitschig says:
    August 26, 2020 at 9:12 am

    Can you please make a squirrel calander? 😉 This is pure gold

    Liked by 1 person

    • Linda Schaub says:
      August 27, 2020 at 9:23 pm

      [Aha – I found the missing comment that I thought Akismet threw out into cyberspace!] These squirrels were so funny Jeanine. I had originally intended the post to be just about squirrels acting “squirrelly” due to the heat – I had a few more squirrel-near-the-barbed-wire-photos, but then when a fellow blogger sent me the article about how squirrels “sploot” by laying on the ground with their legs stretched behind them to cool off on hot Summer Days, I retooled my original post. The one with dangling legs looks like he is hanging out in the tree, just chillin’. 🙂 I’ll find more splooting squirrels and let you know!

      Liked by 1 person

      • bekitschig says:
        August 29, 2020 at 2:32 am

        Oh Linda, please do! They always make me happy. In Australia it was Koala spotting but squirrels do the trick, too 😉

        Liked by 1 person

      • Linda Schaub says:
        August 29, 2020 at 8:29 pm

        They just bring a smile to my face Jeanine. Many years ago the Toledo Zoo, in the neighboring state of Toledo, Ohio, had an exhibit on koala bears. I was excited to go – first off, for years I collected bears, but I always wanted to see a koala and a panda bear (Bear Bucket List). 🙂 So my mom and I went to the Zoo and they did nothing but sleep. The handler for the exhibit said that since they only ate eucalyptus leaves, which are mostly all water, they are not very energetic. They were sleeping in the trees. No energy at all. We kept returning to the exhibit, but no koalas were playing or even being held by the handler. I hope your koalas in Australia were more energetic!

        Liked by 1 person

      • bekitschig says:
        August 30, 2020 at 3:29 am

        Ha ha, that handler left out the fact that the leaves have a sedative quality. So basically, they are mostly high. They hardly ever move on a tree, except to reach out for more leaves. When it’s mating time, they actually make lots of noise. It sounds like grunting. Once in Adelaide when I was driving I had to make a full stop because a koala was crossing the road in the pace of a snail. True story!

        Liked by 1 person

      • Linda Schaub says:
        August 30, 2020 at 8:09 pm

        That’s so funny! Yes, it sounds like she gave us the abridged version of koala behavior. It was really a disappointment and the newspaper, radio and TV ads to see them “for a limited time” were nonstop for month. I’ll pass next time they come to town. 🙂 I thought of you today as I went to my regular park and passed out Nutter Butters to the squirrels. They were happy. Do you have Nutter Butters in Berlin? They are made like an Oreo cookie, only peanut flavored cookies and filled with peanut butter. I got some really funny shots of the squirrels holding them. These are “mini” cookies. You can buy the full size, but these are the size of a American quarter, just perfect for little paws. I said I wasn’t going to go thru any pictures on my camera card but I had to see these.photos. I’ll use them in another week or so, maybe with fun captions underneath. We had a beautiful day here after a week of very hot and humid weather and four inches (10 centimeters) of rain on Friday. You’re fast asleep and I’m just getting here … I don’t know where the weekend goes sometimes Jeanine.

        Liked by 1 person

      • bekitschig says:
        August 31, 2020 at 10:37 am

        I have never seen those cookies but I really want some now 😉 Can’t wait for your pictures! This blog is still in pouting mode. I’ll need to regroup with some garden gnomes for some good mojo … Thank you for your good advice though, stepping away for a bit is probably a better option than just quitting. Take care

        Liked by 1 person

      • Linda Schaub says:
        August 31, 2020 at 7:16 pm

        If you like peanut butter, you would like them. I got some close-ups of them with the cookies in their paws. They are the “mini version” cookies, so not quite the impact of that Valentine’s Day heart cookie, but I got some of the squirrels “smiling” – no kidding. When I was sending you the links of the squirrels last week, I forgot to send this one from Easter I did of the squirrels around the house. I took the regular-sized Nutter Butters and put a little icing on them then “glued” in walnuts and some sunflower seeds. They smelled wonderful and I wouldn’t have minded a few myself. 🙂 Here is the link to see the cookies and squirrels eating them. https://lindaschaubblog.net/2020/04/11/the-great-easter-cookie-caper/

        Sadly, that was in April, and shortly after the pics were taken, the squirrels at my house were gone after years of feeding them. I am sad as my neighbor said he saw a Cooper’s Hawk in the tree across the street looking toward my house … he as home from his job during the lockdown and spent a lot of time looking out the front room window so he saw it. I am a bleeding heart about animals … I wish he had told me – I would have stopped feeding them, even though it was still cold. They had become dependent on the peanuts I put out all Winter for them and the cardinals and jays. So there were two gray squirrels, two black squirrels and a couple of fox squirrels. The one gray squirrel (Grady) and his buddy or mate, would beg relentlessly … I’d feed them, they would eat peanuts then I’d return from walking, they’d beg again. It was cute and I spoiled them silly.

        As to the blog, yes, step aside for a little bit. You enjoy writing and taking and collecting photographs and quotes and it would be a shame to stop doing something you enjoy. My blog has become a big part of my life. I have worked from home for ten years now, so for my blog, it is like family … you take care too Jeanine.

        Liked by 1 person

      • bekitschig says:
        September 1, 2020 at 2:47 am

        Thanks for your kind words. And somehow it really is kinda like family … Sorry about the squirrels. Will check out your post right now 😉

        Liked by 1 person

      • Linda Schaub says:
        September 1, 2020 at 8:08 pm

        Well it does seem like family most of the time. I feel badly about those squirrels. I kind of nurtured this whole “crowd” around the house …then they were gone and in a sad way on top of it.

        Liked by 1 person

      • bekitschig says:
        September 2, 2020 at 7:32 am

        Don’t be too hard on yourself. It is nature after all …

        Liked by 1 person

      • Linda Schaub says:
        September 2, 2020 at 8:19 pm

        That is what a fellow nature lover said and added “it’s the circle of life” but I felt like I set them up. I usually take extra peanuts to the Park all Winter as there are often snowy or icy days I don’t get down there and they don’t always plow the walking path. So I leave extras on the picnic tables under the pavilion roof – they are safe from hawks descending on them there. I worried about the hummingbird becoming prey, but she zips around too quickly, even I will blink and she’s gone, so decided that was okay. I’ve had a pair of cardinals nesting in a barberry bush for years and it was nice seeing them by the house – maybe when the hawks take a hike. They cruise over Council Point Park sometimes as well.

        Liked by 1 person

  5. Ally Bean says:
    August 26, 2020 at 10:14 am

    That last photo is a funny. I feel kind of like that today.

    Liked by 1 person

  6. Tofino Photography says:
    August 26, 2020 at 10:30 am

    I imagine a squirrel falling………hitting and the word in the cartoon caption would be “SPLOOT”!

    Liked by 1 person

  7. indianeskitchen says:
    August 26, 2020 at 10:42 pm

    How in the world can that squirrel lay on top of the fence & barbed wire on top of him? Ouch!

    Liked by 1 person

    • Linda Schaub says:
      August 27, 2020 at 6:57 am

      I know! I actually had a few more pictures of this squirrel when he/she was climbing in between the wires and down the fence. Then I got the link to the story about animals “splooting” so I amended the post by removing the other pics and only using “splooting” pictures. It has to be the heat making it do something risky like that. Right now it is 75 and very humid this morning … I suspect lots of squirrels will be sprawled out this morning. I may want to join them!

      Liked by 1 person

  8. singlikewildflowers says:
    August 27, 2020 at 8:41 pm

    Splooting?! That’s a new word to remember for summer months.
    Great photos of the squirrels in their different chillaxing poses.

    Liked by 1 person

  9. Joni says:
    August 27, 2020 at 11:03 pm

    A new word to me too! That last picture in the tree is priceless!

    Liked by 1 person

    • Linda Schaub says:
      August 28, 2020 at 7:23 am

      A fun word and fit the pictures perfectly. In fact, I had more pictures of the squirrel playing around the barbed wire and removed them from the post to just have “splooting” pictures. That last squirrel picture is like he is saying “it’s too hot to do anything but just lay here!”

      Liked by 1 person

  10. Laurie says:
    August 28, 2020 at 7:14 am

    I have never heard of the word “splooting” before, but if the squirrels are splooting in your photos, that is exactly how I feel in this heat!

    Liked by 1 person

    • Linda Schaub says:
      August 28, 2020 at 7:48 am

      I hadn’t either Laurie – kind of a fun word to describe how squirrels (and dogs and cats as well), flop down on their stomachs and stretch out their legs to let the cool surface help regulate their body temperature on hot days.
      We had 91 degrees yesterday and have severe weather all day – we have flash floods from a quick two inches of rain and it’s still pouring … the really volatile weather ramps up later. What a year 2020 has been!

      Like

  11. AnnMarie stevens says:
    August 28, 2020 at 9:12 pm

    Linda…………………………those cute pics of the squirrels and their long fluffy tails make me smile, especially the one where he’s laying flat on his stomach………………..

    Liked by 1 person

  12. Shelley@QuaintRevival.com says:
    September 1, 2020 at 7:34 am

    LOL – yeah, even the squirrels know when it’s too hot to trot!

    Liked by 1 person

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