Found Squirrels: Squirrel Lamp

I love it when people send me pictures of squirrels and squirrel stuff! No matter how many times they've sent me squirrel things before, my heart always manages to skip a beat when I see a new squirrel item land in my mailbox.

This stunning little albino squirrel lamp was sent to me by, of all people, my new boss at my job! Normally I try to keep my rodent obsession secret, at least for a few months, so that people don't judge me too harshly immediately. My usual slow introduction was thwarted by my coworkers, who informed our new boss about "Casey's squirrel thing" within the first week.

Thanks, guys.

Luckily, she seems to think it's charming (let's hope that continues), and even played along by sending me this squirrel lamp she found in Brooklyn. Awesome!

Den of the Devil

We headed up to Connecticut on Saturday to visit a friend and get some exposure to nature.

I don't know when it happened but I have apparently turned into a city kid. My shoe choice for this excursion was both completely inappropriate and dangerous, the lack of garbage freaked me out, and at one point I thought the sound made by my corduroy jacket was actually the calls of a beaver following me.

It's all very wrong. I used to be so comfortable in wild places. Now I'm confused if I don't have concrete under my feet.

Unisphere Porn

So I know I've blogged previously about going out to Flushing Meadows to see all the old World's Fair structures. We had several friends visiting this weekend so we hopped on the 7 train for a quick visit.

This was the first time I've ever been to the Unisphere and been able to walk through the dry fountain right up to the base of it.

It was kind of scary having this giant steel globe hovering above us, but the cold February sky was really awesome against the metal structure.

I took a lot of pictures. I think they're great.

Found Squirrels: Toilet Casket Squirrels

I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art yesterday. It's a good way to keep myself entertained for a few hours for a very small amount of money. As usual, I managed to find whole sections of the Met I had never seen before. We've lived in New York City four years now (?) and I've been to the Met many times and yet somehow I still turn corners and find new parts of the permanent collection I have never seen.

Finding squirrels at the Met remains a challenge, but yesterday I found this prize.

These squirrels were at an exhibit on boxes, and I'm lucky I looked closely enough to find them. Can you see them? The casket is French, from approximately 1700. It is made of "wood veneered with marquetry of tortoiseshell and brass, rosewood; gilt bronze, and steel."

Happy Groundhog Day!

Did you know that a groundhog is a ground squirrel?

I love groundhogs. Here in New York City a groundhog named Chuck who lives at the Staten Island Zoo forecasts the weather. And the zoo holds an annual program and breakfast to go along with the prognostication. Every year I get excited and decide that I want to do this and every year on February 1 I go to the Staten Island Zoo website and discover that the program starts at 7 AM. In Staten Island. I don't even know how long it would take me to get to Staten Island from our current address, but I'm pretty sure it would require a 4 AM wake up call.

And so every year I give up on my dream of eating breakfast with a ground squirrel.

Luckily this year I have this little guy to comfort me.

This is from my squirrel calendar. I think I've mentioned the squirrel calendar before. I get one every year, and they really make me crazed with glee. This month's squirrel just may be the cutest one yet (counting all three or four years that I've had a squirrel calendar).

Still, if someone wanted to show up at my door with a chipmunk and some bagels that would be much appreciated.

Squirrel Stuff I Own: Squirrel Squinky

I think I may have mentioned before that B's nieces are very supportive of my love of squirrels. They love squirrels too, I think, but maybe they just act like they do to make me happy.

Over the holidays B and I came down with a really, really terrible stomach flu, which sidelined us both for a couple days. One of the nieces wrote me a sweet little note about how she was sorry I was sick. This cute little squinky squirrel accompanied the note. Apparently squinkies are a thing now with the younger set (I'm really not hip enough to know these things). They come in eggs and they are meant to be pencil toppers but I think most kids just collect them. They're pretty cute, and I've brought my squinky to work, where he sits atop my monitor and praises my work. My coworkers are jealous.

Squirrel Stuff I Own: Ridiculous Squirrel Socks

Seems like a good time to blog about these since I just wore them yesterday (although for the record, this picture was taken post-wash and pre-wear so these are some clean neon pink squirrel socks).

DO YOU SEE THE WHAT IS HAPPENING HERE?!?! Squirrels. Neon pink. Socks. Everything about these cracks me up, and every time I look at them my curmudgeonly, pessimistic little heart melts just a little bit. These were a Christmas present from my friend G, who obviously knows me very well.

Thanks, G!

Squirrel Stuff I Own: Christmas Squirrels

So I think I've mentioned in my blog before that B and I have a couple of nieces on his side. They're very cute, and are now all old enough to talk and chatter and say funny things and just generally be small, entertaining people. They are also enthusiastic supporters of my love for squirrels. When we lived near them back in the summer of 2009 they would frequently spot a squirrel out a car window or off the back deck and scream, "Auntie C! It's a skoo-werl!!! Do you see the skoo-werl!?!?!"

I have suggested to B that he would do well to adopt that level of enthusiasm for rodents, but so far his involvement is just patient support of my weirdness.

But I digress. The point is, often the children will acquire squirrel items for me (because they know I will love them) and happily give them to me.

This was part of our Christmas present this year! They're supposed to be ornaments, but the little threads to hold them to the tree fell off. One was for B (the green one, I think) and one was for me, but B promptly regifted his so I'm now the proud owner of both sparkly, magnificent little squirrels (with hats!). And of course the nieces were SO delighted to give them to me. I'm hoping that this will influence a lifelong love of rodents in all of them.

Squirrel Stuff I Own: Squirrel Cards

Well, this New York City Squirrel is back from her Christmas trip to the Midwest, and has returned with even more squirrel stuff. And yet I'm still struggling to catch up this blog with squirrel stuff acquired in early December!

I received a few squirrel-themed greeting cards, recently, this one is from my friend M, who found it in Iceland.

Cute, right? Here it is from a different angle, so you can see how it's built. I like how this one is a red squirrel, since most of my squirrel stuff is based on the grey squirrel.

And then my friend E picked up this beautiful card for me in South Africa, I believe.

I love it. I feel like it's the type of piece you could put in a frame and then build a decorating scheme around, if one was inclined to decorate around a rodent. And hey, if anyone in the world were to be inclined to decorate like that, wouldn't it be me?

Squirrel Stuff I Bought For Other People: Pop-Up Squirrel Card

I found this ridiculous card at a store near my place of employment about a month ago. I immediately knew I needed to purchase this for my favorite squirrel, B.

Of course, this was in early November, so B's birthday had passed as had our anniversary. My birthday was coming up at that point, but you can't buy a card for yourself for your birthday (that's just ridiculous). So I got the card for B just because, even though clearly I was going to get more joy out of it.

Selfish? Maybe. But I like to think that he gets some joy out of the joy I feel from squirrel stuff.