Sunday Night Activity

Giving B another reason to stick around.

I finally figured out how to make a decent dessert pizza.

Found Squirrels: E's Bouncy Chair

So a few posts ago I mentioned that we went to Minnesota for our new nephew E's baptism. While we were there visiting the kids, I noticed this excellent squirrel item that E is currently using.

Yes, E's bouncy chair has a squirrel on it! I was pretty sure that his parents were raising him right, but now I'm 100% positive that they are. I assume that this is some sort of themed line of baby paraphernalia which will be out of production by the time B and I reproduce. This disappoints me, but my sister-in-law has promised to save it for us for when B Junior shows up. Yay!

Brooklyn And Stuff

So we took a little trip to Brooklyn last weekend to meet friends and see the new Brooklyn Bridge Park. I forgot to bring my camera, so I took a few pictures with B's phone. They didn't turn out very well.

And yes, the water really is that dirty.

Anyway, Brooklyn Bridge Park was pretty cool. We saw TONS of babies and pregnant women. Seriously. Swarms. It was ridiculous. And I saw NOT ONE squirrel in the entire park. It is a new park, after all, and all the trees are young so there isn't really a good place to build a squirrel nest (called a drey), but someday this will be prime squirrel property.

There was also a cool metal thing in the sidewalk. I like metal things in the sidewalk.

Found Squirrels: Nicaragua Edition

So my friend J was here a few weeks ago, visiting from Nicaragua where she is working as a Peace Corps volunteer. She mentioned that she had an awesome photo of a squirrel to send me, and of course I was pleased to hear this.

I have received many awesome squirrel things via the email. But this is probably the best the one yet, and certainly the most unusual.

Guys, the squirrel is ON A LEASH and SITTING ON HIS SHOULDER. It's his little friend! His little pet! It's every fantasy I've ever had about squirrel ownership all rolled up into a photo!

(I will note here that all the research I have done about keeping a squirrel as a pet has indicated that they do not make good pets unless you enjoy having the shit scratched out of your furniture and your self every day.)

Now to be fair, the squirrel looks a little freaked out. And a little skanky. Both of these characteristics are common for animals/pets in Nicaragua, as I recall. But wow, I am still jealous of this kid. And so thankful that J has opened up this new world of possibility to me.

Squirrel leash. Why didn't I think of it first?

MN

We went back to Minnesota last weekend for our new nephew's baptism. We'll call him E here, and he's pretty cute, but I try to not put up pictures of real people on this here blog so you'll just have to take my word for it.

The church was very nicely decorated in yellow. Was this because it was Mother's Day? I believe we're in Ordinary Time right now, but I don't recall ever seeing yellow in my home chuch. Anyway, it was a good color for spring and for a baptism.

Oh, and I finally gave E the special bear I knit for him a few months ago. (And I mean special in the short bus sense.) I could tell he liked it because he spent at least ten minutes chewing on the bear's head.

Squirrel Stuff I Own: Squirrel Ephemera

Just wanted to note that I've received multiple squirrel cards in the mail so far in 2010. This first one came from my friend A, along with that awesome pair of squirrel earrings.

He looks a little drunk, doesn't he? Like he hollowed out that nut to hold his Nutty Brown Ale.

The second card is actually a postcard, and comes from my friend M of the swings blog fame.

Dear Lord, that is a fat squirrel! I don't think I've ever seen a squirrel so obese in the real world! If I did I would undoubtedly try to catch it and make it my friend.

Casey's Stories: Yellowstone

So I watched the great BBC documentary about Yellowstone National Park the other day. I'll admit that I wasn't a huge fan of Yellowstone when we visited. It was huge, and we spent tons of time driving, and even though we were there in September it was still terribly crowded. The terrain reminded me of where I grew up, so I wasn't overly-impressed with it. All in all, I would say it was one of my least favorite national parks.

Well it's much better in HD on Netflix Watch Instantly!

This documentary was great, focusing on the difficulties most animals experience in trying to survive Yellowstone's cold, cold winters. The cinematography was truly stunning, too. The park looked way better than I remember.

Of course there were rodents to be found all over this three-part series! This little guy, the pine squirrel, had a short story arc concerning his attempts to store pine nuts for the winter despite the fact that the bears keep coming and digging up his nut stash and taking it for themselves. Poor little guy. You could see the frustration in his beady little eyes as he watched the bears break into his cupboard.

The movie also had a short bit on the pika, a noble North American creature who lives at high altitudes and spends the summer gathering and drying grass for its winter stores.

Now, I love rodents, and am always excited to learn about a new rodent to love. So imagine my suprise when Wikipedia informed me that the pika is actually part of the Lagomorpha order (rabbits are in this order)! Not Rodentia! "But... but... he's so cute," I thought to myself. "He can't possible be related to the rabbits. How could this guy NOT be a rodent?!?" But who am I to question the work of scientists? (Note: In my next life I intend to be a rodent biologist.)

The moral of this story is that not everything I love is a rodent (and in fact, it turns out that B is not a rodent either), but it's okay to love animals that are from other orders. But only a little.

Squirrel Stuff I Don't Own: Awesome Squirrel Bag

So I have a friend R who lives here in the city, and it turns out that she has a special gift. The gift of attracting squirrel lovers to her! Not only am I friends with her, it turns out she has another friend, L, who also loves squirrels and collects squirrel items!

Hi, L! We should be friends!

Anyway, R emailed the other day to tell me about this friend, and she attached a wonderous picture of a wonderous object owned by L, a squirrel bag!

Now THAT, my friends, is a bushy tail done right! I love the styling of this squirrel, he's very slightly anime, and almost cat-like. And how often do you see squirrel objects with a bounding squirrel? Not frequently! The vast majority of my squirrel stuff is a squirrel sitting on its haunches eating a nut. Which makes a wonderful profile, for sure, but this squirrel bag really captures the essence of squirrel, the crazy energy and cuteness that makes me love them so.

Addendum: L wanted me to mention that this bag is made by Bolsa Bonita. I just went to their website and they have a whole variety of these squirrel bags in different colors! Aaaahh! I may have to get one of my own!

Found Squirrels: The Last Unicorn

So while I'm busy being nostalgic for my childhood (see earlier post regarding Chip and Dale), I wanted to mention another place in my childhood entertainment where I've found a squirrel.

This screen shot is from the opening credits of what was probably my favorite childhood movie, The Last Unicorn.

Did anyone else watch this movie? My sister and I LOVED it and watched it whenever we could cajole our parents into renting it for us. A few years ago I rewatched the whole thing, and the movie itself was very familiar, yet very unfamiliar. I knew the cadence of the words spoken by the characters, but not the words themselves, and I always knew what sort of scene was coming up next (happy, sad, scary, etc.) but wasn't quite sure what would happen in that scene. Something in this movie deeply imprinted itself on my brain, and yet if you had asked me just five years ago, I could not really have explained the plot to you.

What one thing have I always remembered from the plot? The skeleton guy, who drinks a whole bottle of wine and the wine just runs through him. That dude used to show up in my scary dreams as a child a lot. In fact, he still does sometimes, although I am less terrified of him than I was previously.

Found Squirrels: Playground Squirrels

So my friend M has a blog all about swingsets in the greater Seattle area. I'll admit I thought it was strange at first, and then I remembered that I have a whole damn blog about one type of rodent so I'm not really one to judge. Also his blog turns out to be kind of cool.

Anyway, in doing research for his own blog, M came across some fodder for my blog!

Behold! Some sort of crazy squirrel-themed playground item! I don't even really understand what this is, or what one is supposed to do with it, but it's awesome. The squirrel outlines are quite well-done; the one on the right even looks like he's about to hug me! And the one on the left is delightfully fat!

All in all, an excellent bit of playground equipment. I wish more playground designers would realize what a great theme squirrels make for a playground (not to mention a blog!).