I threw off the blanket, even though I was ready to burrow back down for a few more minutes of snooze time. Then I remembered I had a mission, so I swung my legs over the side of the bed, stepped into my fuzzy slippers and headed down the hall.
The sweet smell of icing and a tantalizing peanutty aroma greeted my nose and, after I turned on the kitchen light, I saw 33 pairs of eyes staring at me.
Today would be a meet-n-greet to treat the ghouls and goblins at the Park.
As I sipped my coffee, using my index finger, I tapped lightly on some of the ghost cookies I made last night for the Halloween shoot with my furry friends. I was concerned the eyes, er … icing had thoroughly dried, so the cookies could be packed to go.
Hmm – I saw a few of the cookies had unintended beauty marks on them.
I mumbled to myself “I had better try one cookie to ensure it tastes good – after all, I wouldn’t want to harm any of my furry friends.” Well, that reasoning led to another cookie for good measure, then another, as I decided to forego my usual bowl of oatmeal and indulge in Nutter Butter Double Nutty cookies instead. Yep, I deemed them “safe” (and yummy) to feed to the squirrels.
I grabbed the camera and snapped a few pictures before boxing up the treats, then got ready to leave as soon as it was light outside. I hesitated, thinking aloud “so, do I keep the unadorned cookies for me or take them along for the squirrels who are purists and disdain ghosts?” I kept them for a bad day.
I pulled into my usual parking place at Council Point Park, hopped out, then with a flourish, I shook the sheet to eliminate any static and swiftly slipped it over my head, positioning the makeshift eye holes to match my eyes. Perfect! To avoid a trip-and-fall along the trail, I had trimmed a sizable length off the bottom, thus exposing my walking shoes. “Well, Parker will know me for sure – he’ll recognize those shoes, maybe even his own scent” I thought as I reached over and grabbed the box from the front seat. I hooked a bag containing peanuts and sunflower seeds over my shoulder and under the sheet, so I could deal with the cookies first. With the tip of my shoe, I nudged the door shut, clicked the remote and pocketed the keys in one fell swoop, then proceeded to my first stop – the pavilion picnic tables.
If you’ve never seen how Parker sniffs my shoes and then puts his paws on the toes, well here’s one of many photos I’ve taken of him doing this.
Without missing a beat, Parker scampered over to scope out me and/or the treats.
As he is fond of doing, my favorite squirrel buddy Parker first waylaid me in the parking lot – yep, it’s all about him sometimes. He is the Park Town Crier when Linda, a/k/a “The Peanut Lady” arrives. That is, after he takes care of Parker first, then it’s okay to alert the rest of the crowd to my arrival.
Parker, nose to the air like a bird dog, sniffed appreciatively and it didn’t take long before he zipped over to my side, no doubt lured by the wafting scent of the open bag of peanuts still under my sheet. He started dancing around my feet as I was lining up the ghost cookies on the picnic table and, after I set the box down on a nearby table, he jumped onto the picnic bench seat.
I glanced down to see a sad face, much like a dog’s pout as it watches you fixing yourself a tasty sandwich without offering him/her a bite.
I looked down at him and said “I’ll just be a few minutes honey – today’s our Halloween shoot and Linda needs to set up.”
“Cool – what did you bring us – mini Snickers bars?” he asked. (When it comes to food, Parker’s radar is always up and he never forgets a promise if it involves food. ‘Twas a pity my peanut pal was way too short to see the picnic table top.)
“Nope. It’s a surprise” I told him.
“Linda, by the way, my main squeeze Penelope said to tell you she’s gone gluten free, whatever that means.”
I whirled around and in a stern voice said “Parker, you can share your peanuts with Penelope – I’m not running a restaurant here for goodness sake!”
“Okay, you can give me extra peanuts for Penelope – I know I’m your favorite and if you hand over extra peanuts, I’ll pose extra nice like I did with my Valentine cookie a few years ago.”
He continued “… or my Christmas cookie – your blogger friends liked that pose too!”
“Parker, that’s blackmail. You can give YOUR peanuts to Penelope and have an extra ghost cookie.”
Without missing a beat, the little bugger said “no way – those are my peanuts – I’m not sharing!”
“But Penelope is your mate, the mother of your kits!” I said, championing Penelope’s cause … well, just because of the sisterhood and all.
Parker countered, saying “but I know your blogging friends think I’m the cutest squirrel with the most personality.” And then he added slyly“I’ll give you lots of bang for your buck for extra peanuts!”
Bartering with a squirrel – I had surely lost my mind!
Okay … it’s ‘go time’ – enjoy!
I had laid out the cookies, but NOT the peanuts nor seeds yet as they would go for the familiar and I’d be left tapping my toe waiting for them to investigate the cookies. I did flip one cookie upside down so they would recognize a Nutter Butter.
I fished my camera out of my pocket to take some photos just as several little buddies slowly approached the pavilion area.They were cautious, especially the smaller gray and black squirrels, peering over the table top, then creeping slowly along as if these strange beings should leap up from the table and attack them. Each brave squirrel approached, then backed off. They probably would take their cue from Parker.
Parker ran over, grabbed a cookie and began to nibble on it as you see below.
Soon he scooted away to bury it before I asked too much more of him.
A few minutes later, he returned for a second helping. I put a cookie on the pavilion floor, then he sniffed the cookie, grabbed it …
… then, still in a squirrelly snit, again he held his ghost cookie upside down as you see up top and below.
I laid out peanuts to get a few photos. Having seen Parker score a cookie, this little black squirrel approached the treats apprehensively and decided peanuts were safer than that ol’ ghost cookie.
Eventually, curiosity got the better of this little squirrel, so he/she crept across the table to grab a creepy-looking ghost cookie.
Time to move along … there were other hungry mouths to feed.
I headed to the Safe Haven Tree, unfortunately not yet bare enough to get great pics of the munchin’ munchkins, but with our upcoming weather a tad erratic with the threat of a wintry mix on the way, it was best to stay ahead of Mother Nature’s moods. So I spread out ghost cookies, peanuts and seeds and paused for photos.
The cookies weren’t a hit right away and seeds, not peanuts, ruled. The cookies would be consumed after I was long gone.
Unfortunately to make these three stops, it’s a mile-long venture and by the time I’ve reached the third stop, there is always action at Stop #1 that I don’t want to miss – to get some fun shots, truly I needed a clone, or just had to be quick. At the third stop, I did not leave cookies … I wanted the squirrels (and birds) to grab a snack and not linger due to any hawks.
As mentioned before, I’ve learned over the years, that holding back peanuts and seeds guarantees my squirrelly friends will at least poke at their Nutter Butters, apples or pumpkins and take a few bites, albeit swiveling their heads to search for peanuts to take “to go” especially in Fall, as it’s all about munch one now, bury the rest. That didn’t work, so I gave in to get shots and had to be creative as you see below.
The cookie initially had no appeal …
… so I sweetened the pot with peanuts.
A black squirrel seized on that combo, not touching the cookie.
However, when I returned about a half-hour later, only crumbs remained and the leaf was flipped over.
I walked two or three miles getting these photos for this Halloween post. Now for your treat … click here for my Halloween wish for you!
Linda Schaub
WALKIN', WRITIN', WIT & WHIMSY 
You have gone to a LOT of trouble for these creatures 🙂
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I always do something special for them for the holidays – it makes a fun blog post and they have a sweet tooth. 🙂 Nutter Butters are tasty peanut-flavored sandwich cookies with peanut butter filling inside. Next will be Thanksgiving and special treats then as well.
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Oh, my, Linda, those squirrels are SPOILED! Your cookies with decorations are so cute. Such fun photos and tales/tails you’ve captured.
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I admit they are a bit spoiled Shelley. They look at those cookies like they might come alive – it was funny. I had trouble with the ghost eyes and dribbled some beauty marks with the black icing. They smelled pretty awesome … they were all gone the next morning when I went to walk. Funny you mention the tail/tale … if I’m taking squirrel photos, I come home with at least one or two shots of just the tail or the side of the head as they turn too quickly. So I was going thru and picking out pics and decided to use that blooper picture to pair with the one of Parker running away to bury the cookie. It was perfect. I had fun doing this – maybe more fun than they did eating them. 🙂
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It was a deliciously delightful post! And, the pictures went well with the narrative. I bet the squirrels had a pow-wow later to share their thoughts about their favorite visitor to the park! Perhaps your sweet treats helped them gain some weight for winter months. 😉
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Yes, I think Parker held a meeting, convened the squirrels and said “don’t try to finagle extra peanuts by saying your mate’s gone gluten free because Linda ain’t buyin’ it!”
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I love it!! 😍🥰😍
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It’s Nutter Butter time!
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Yes, they were yummy Pam and deemed safe to feed to the critters. 🙂
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👍😘
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Well – you certainly were having fun with the squirrels. Wow – I would have eaten those cookies myself – you are so entergetic about feeding your little creature friends. Thanks for the Halloween wish. The squirrels are getting spoled by you. Cute post.
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Glad you enjoyed the post and the card Peggy. I like to have a little fun with the squirrels – treat them and make a fun post at the same time for a little smile for all the holidays. I do like to spoil them. These cookies are delicious and even more so with the icing to give them a little sweet taste. Sometimes I have put chopped nuts on top while the icing is still wet … that’s a hit too. I used to give them mini pumpkins and line them along the perimeter path with a few peanuts next to each pumpkin, but now with the hawks around, that’s not a good idea. They like small apples too, but I stopped that for the same reason.
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Yes, there are too many problems with hawks around. I know the hawks have to eat, but I truly wish they ate grass. Ha I have seen small animals killed by eagles and hawks, but can;t say I like it.
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I hope I never see it Peggy. I’ve never seen an animal attacked by a snake either. I was at the Park about three years ago and there was a pair of American Black Ducks in the water. There was a walker, whom I miss as he passed away this year. He loved nature and occasionally we walked together and he would point out different birds that were “passing by” and not our regular Park critters. He grew up in northern Michigan next to a woods. So this one day he saw me and said “look for the pair of black ducks by the ledge.” I saw them and next day the two were out of the water, came over by me and I got some up-close shots of them. I’d never seen black ducks before. It turned out they were two females from the color of their bills. We saw the two a few times after that. Then months later, one of them was in the field – I could see it from the walking path. It was alive and sitting up straight, but seemed dazed. Staring into space, head feathers ruffled but seemed like it was in shock as I approached it, it didn’t move. I didn’t know about the Duck Sanctuary then or I would have contacted them. I suspect the pair were waddling around and a predator got the one and maybe killed it and hurt the remaining duck. The next day it was laying on its side dead. I felt badly – I thought it was dazed as I saw no blood or marks were on it; even laying on its side it had not been wounded. To me, it seemed as bad as seeing it get preyed upon.
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Sad about the black ducks. We wateched two white ducks on the pond next door lose their lives to an Eagle. We feed these ducks daily and I was devastated.
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That is terrible Peggy. That is one of the sad things about befriending and feeding wild animals. It is so easy to get attached to them. It is such a tough world out there for being preyed upon. My favorite charity “Michigan Duck Rescue and Sanctuary” often shows how they rescue ducks, usually the white ducks that people abandon when they get big. One poor duck lost over half of its bill to a snapping turtle. You would think the bill would be too hard for the turtle to bite down on. That duck is on a liquid diet now and they will try to fit it with a prosthesis when it is recovered fully.
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The duck on a liquid diet would not survive without human help – it would just die. Snapping turtles here in Arkansas are mean critters. They really can take a chunk out of animals and people.
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I saw a large turtle at the Park digging a hole to bury her eggs a few years ago. It was fascinating to watch her using her flippers to throw the dirt to make a big hole. I took pictures and turned it into a post. So I said it was a “turtle” and one of my followers said I didn’t put what kind of turtle and that it was a “snapping turtle” – I have never seen a snapping turtle and really didn’t see her face. So I didn’t realize that they are that mean and can take a chunk out of animals and people. Wow – that poor duck!
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Linda, you do spoil your furry (and feathered) friends. That Parker is so bold! I think it is very noble of you to taste the cookies before you give them to the critters. You wouldn’t want to give them treats that don’t taste delicious! Good for you for dispensing Halloween treats and getting your steps in at the same time. Maybe you should get an assistant to take some photos for you. You can’t be everywhere at once.
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Yes, I do admit to spoiling my little buddies Laurie, especially for all the holidays. Parker is bold and fancies himself as quite a charmer if it suits him. 🙂 I actually went up to Heritage Park after I took these photos and walked some more. I follow “Heritage Park Photo of the Day” on Facebook and saw that park’s many Maple trees were at peak so I went there and I got some pretty foliage pics and reflection pics as well. I am behind in sorting out my Summer and Fall photos, but it was such a gorgeous October that I got out as much as I could. You know what is coming unfortunately. It is difficult to go to three places and keep dashing back and forth – you’re right – I need an assistant.
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Oh my! I may be the crazy cat lady but you are the crazy squirrel lady!
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And we wear that moniker proudly too don’t we? Gracie and Parker give us plenty to write about. Having a heart-to-heart with a squirrel makes for fun fodder for a blog and I’m sure some people think I’m as nutty as they are. I talk to the birds too – the cute Chickadees are done eating grubs and now showing up to dine on sunflower seeds under the Safe Haven Tree. It’s hard to get their photo as they are so tiny and move quickly.
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I had a lot of chickadees at my last house. Almost impossible to photograph except with a zoom and a quick trigger finger.
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They are so darn cute – my friend in New York has chickadees landing on her shoulder, even the scoop while she is filling the bird feeders in her backyard.
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They can be friendly. I’ve never taken the time and I always fear allowing them to get too familiar as there are mean people around.
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Yes, there are people who will deliberately harm them – humans hurting any animal makes my blood boil. We had a pair of photographers in Michigan who built a snowman in the woods. They stood back and took pictures of what critters came to visit that snowman and they got the most beautiful photos. A chickadee sitting on the snowman’s glove and also on the carrot nose, then a deer nibbling on the carrot nose. They made a kid’s book and Christmas cards with their photos and called it “Stranger in the Woods”. Unfortunately a book has been written with the same title about a guy who went into the woods and became a hermit at 20 years old.
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That sounds pretty cool!
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Yes, they were great photos … my mom and I got the Christmas cards one year. I only send e-cards now except to my friend Ann Marie who sends me cards for every holiday and my birthday, so I send her and her husband traditional cards.
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lots of treats for your furry friends Linda! It’ll help beef them up for Winter! Love the card too!
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Glad you liked the card Wayne – I chose it because it was called “Spooky Spread” and had ghost decorations and treats like I had laid out. I especially liked the painting with the eyes that moved and freaked the cat out. My furry friends are getting pretty fat – their fat layer and extra fur courtesy of Mother Nature make them look heavier, plus all the peanuts and these cookies are helping to beef them up. I hope they took an extra ghost cookie back to the nest to nibble on a rainy day when I don’t make it.
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you need to put tiny electric blankets in their nests…….and If your going that far might as well install cable!
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Only the best for my little pals! My friend lives in New York in an area where they get lots of snow. She shelters and feeds feral cats on her back deck and has done this for years. Carol has shelter boxes with straw. Under the straw is battery-operated heating pads. She has battery-operated warming dishes for cat food and water so it doesn’t freeze. The Mama cat bring litter after litter there – I think Carol should trap Mama … she traps the kittens once they’re weaned and takes them to a feral cat society … some, she is not able to trap as thy dodge her, so she just feeds and shelters them.
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yes,she should get that female cat fixed. It only increases the feral problem.
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I wonder why she doesn’t but I think she said she evades a trap and only eats when Carol is not around. The kittens and the other ferals she couldn’t trap sleep in the boxes and when she walks out to feed them they go right to their food. She also has raccoons trying to eat the food as well, so she has to stand there and shoo the raccoon away so they’ll eat undisturbed. What we do for our “wild” critters.
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I thought about putting a locking spring door on the box and yes that would work in trapping her but she probably wouldn’t enter into that box again.
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She is real skittish – she is not shy about bringing her kittens and dropping them off on the porch once they’re weaned but she rarely is with them. I think Carol should concentrate on the mom – she keeps saying “what if something happened to me – who would take care of them?” Her husband would not be able to do it – he is on a walker and it’s difficult for him to get around.
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Ah how cute those cookies are! The forest kids really enjoyed them. Happy Hallowe’en Linda!
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Yes, they loved their occasional sweet treats, so I try to do something special for each holiday – a treat for them and a fun blog post. Back at you Susan!
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That was cute! and fun! especially the dialogue. No wonder you were busy on the weekend making all those cookies.
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Glad you liked it and yes, as you know I am quite the baker Joni. 🙂 They were lucky I didn’t bake cookies on my own. At least I didn’t cut my finger trying to get the icing cap off like last time. You have to knead the package then twist the icing cap off … the cap does not twist off, so I have to cut it off. Grrrr. It was fun to do and made for some cute pictures. For the dialogue, I was thinking about Parker who likely only loads up on treats for himself and dos not take them back to the nest with him and that gave me that idea and the sisterhood idea as well.
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I like the photo of Parker delicately holding his Halloween cookie. It’s like he was posing for the camera, being a sophisticated squirrel with proper manners. Happy Halloween, Linda.
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Glad you liked Parker’s pose Ally. I was hoping he’d hold that cookie right-side up like he did with the Valentine heart cookie a few years ago … no such luck. Happy Halloween back at you!
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You are over the top, Linda!
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I’m fulfilling the “Whimsy” part of my blog title Eilene. 🙂
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I love it!
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I loved your Halloween post and the card. Perfect!
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Thanks Anne – glad you liked both of them.
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Parker is a cheeky one!! I like the ghost nutter butters and how you posed it with the leaf. You know what you’re doing by laying out the nuts later…good tactic to get the photos early on.
Happy Halloween!
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He sure is cheeky Esther. He positions himself to always get first crack at everything. He is bold and brazen. I was trying my best to encourage them all to try a cookie. I felt like the Life cereal TV commercial when the kids say to Mikey: “try it, you’ll like it!”. Happy Halloween back at you (a little bit tardy on my part).
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Too bad Parker doesn’t have a social media account! All the squirrel fans would follow.
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Yes, for sure – like Jill the Squirrel. She is on Instagram. I am rarely on Instagram, but a friend who likes squirrels told me to go look for her. She was knocked from her nest during Hurricane Isaac in 2012 and a family took her in and rehabbed her. She has 700,000 followers. She is spoiled and loves attention (kind of a female version of Parker).
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Oh my gosh, that’s wild news! Is this the squirrel you mentioned when talking about the baby squirrel that fell from a tree?
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Yes it is and if you’re on Instagram, take a peek at Jill. The kids will get a kick out of seeing her. She is an Eastern Gray Squirrel so kind of petite with the white tummy … just Google “Jill the Squirrel 2022” and the Instagram link comes up right away. I think you can view it without being on Instagram. I’ll send you a link to Jill with her teddy bear.
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Here’s Jill with her teddy bear – very cute. A friend of mine told me about Jill. Kirk was a squirrel lover and he fed a few squirrels around his apartment and also feral cats. He’d sent me pics of his squirrels and I’d reciprocate and he followed my blog, though he didn’t comment. He was a nice guy and was in the wrong place at the wrong time and was killed by a dump truck driver who was texting and plowed into Kirk’s car this past May. He died two days later from his injuries. So sad.
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We humans should follow a squirrel’s lead – they seem to prefer the healthy option before the not-so-healthy. Having said that, Iced Nutter Butters sound amazing. And before I knew what Parker was holding in the first photo, I thought his treat was somehow artificially illuminated. The white frosting threw me!
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Yes, the critters are smarter than us sometimes Dave. That’s funny – well, the icing dries a little shiny and the flash must have gone off under the pavilion roof making it look shinier. The Iced Nutter Butters are tasty with or without icing, but that fresh icing and the peanut butter in between is pretty tasty.
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This post is absolutely adorable, Linda. I especially enjoyed the conversation between you and the squirrels. Those frosted ghost cookies were so cute and absolutely delicious! Fun post!! And the special card linked was thoughtful just a sweet as those cookies!!!
Your special sweetheart personality really came out in this post for Halloween.
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Thank you so much for your kind words TD. I say I am fulfilling the “Whimsy” part of the title of this blog. I like interacting with the squirrels at the Park, especially Parker whom I have featured before in other posts, holding a holiday cookie or mini pumpkin or apple. I really do talk to them all the time.
Those cookies are tasty and I’m no baker, so I buy the Nutter Butters and slather icing on them. Sometimes I stick chopped nuts onto the wet icing to get their attention, but I had to forego that and make ghost eyes instead. 🙂 Glad you liked the card as well. It is fun putting together a post like this and I already have my Thanksgiving post photos done. I can’t count on the weather staying good, so I did the “shoot” this past weekend.
I just have to write the story. Thank you again for your nice comments TD.
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TD – this is the Valentine’s Day cookie I mentioned in my post:
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Those are some super spoiled squirrels, Linda! They’re so adorable it’s no wonder you go out of your way to make their holidays special, even if they are apprehensive at first. Parker has such a cool personality — I think he gets you. 🙂 Your creativity is inspiring. Love the e-card, thank you!
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Thank you Barbara! This was a really fun post to do, from “making the cookies” to taking photos and putting the post together. Parker is a real sweetie and he really seems to be quite intuitive … he’ll come up close like we’ve got this secret handshake or code we pass between us in order for him to glean extra cookies first before the others. He has been doing this for about four or five years now and though sometimes I will miss him when I’m at the Park, especially when I stop there for a quick mile and just to feed everyone, then go to a bigger park, he generally seeks me out first. Glad you liked the e-card too … I was looking for a card with ghosts and treats, so that fit the bill.
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That is the cutest pictures ever with Parker eating the cookie. I might change my name to Parker! 🤣
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Glad you liked the pictures Diane – he is such a sweet little soul, no matter how much I bash him for being bullheaded sometimes. Yes, go for it – definitely change your name to Parker – look at all the sweet treats and endearments he gets. 🙂
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Ooooh, Nutter Butters! I like peanuts, but I love Nutter Butters. Does that make me squirrly?
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You would be just as squirrly as me then JP … that’s not a bad thing. 🙂
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