Journal Entry #5: Squirrel Trapeze Artist and When You Are Lost

I watched the squirrel in the backyard while I made breakfast. I shot a video and sent it to my best friend, who just happened to be watching a squirrel in her backyard at the same time. Her squirrel was digging up acorns and re-burying them 1-2 feet away. I told her he was a true prepper! You’ve got to keep circulating your caches because you never know who’s been watching. We both shared emoji laughs. 

A Trapeze Artist

My squirrel was at the bird feeder again after the large chunk of suet feed I’d broken up and put in the hanging basket feeder from the overhanging tree limb. 

He came down from his tree behind the fence, dropped down to the fence rail, trotted along it and over the gate, then jumped up to the overhanging tree limb, down the tree limb and looked down at the feeder. 

He twitched his tail several times. Then he stretched down, turning upside down as he grabbed the metal hook and rod holding the basket with his front feet, then with his back feet. Then like a trapeze artist, he slid down the metal rod, spun around it, did a twist, and landed on all four feet in the middle of the basket. He promptly wrapped his tiny front feet around the chunk and stuffed it into his face. 

He sat there for a few moments, eating and then shimmied back up the metal rod, slipping, then pushing and pulling himself up to the branch. He sat there, twitching his tail wildly, hairs flared out so I could see through it to his thin long tailbone. He stamped his back feet against the limb repeatedly. 

I looked around in the nearby trees but did not see any other squirrels. I’m assuming this is a territorial communication to keep away from his horde?

I finished my breakfast of leftover fajitas with sour cream, guacamole, shredded cheddar and mozzarella. Chocolate milk and chocolate chip peanut butter cookies afterwards added a sweetness to the morning.

I washed the dishes, watching the backyard through the window. The sparrows were now at the feeder pecking away at the chunk. A larger chunk had been knocked out of the feeder on to the ground below, and there he was again, stuffing his face with the chunk. A few sparrows flew down and pecked at the loose seed on the ground around him. He does not mind the sparrows and they hop all around him.

A pair of black birds with white specks on their wings swoop down to the other feeders hanging from the other tree in the yard. 

These black birds (I have not learned their name yet) have been nesting inside the open vent in the ceiling of the apartment. They have raised three sets of babies since I’ve been here. This is the fourth set now and we can hear the scritch scritch of their feet as they hop from the vent opening down the metal flashing tube to their nest when we are in the living room. 

A light mist starts, dampening the morning. The squirrel and birds have disappeared, the dishes are done and it’s time to start my day.

I’m working on my newsletter (have you subscribed? ) for this coming weekend and then will go out later this afternoon to pick up groceries. I’ve discovered the convenience of ordering by app and picking up. I do miss picking items out for myself, and walking through the aisles to just see what is there that I might have forgotten I needed (or wanted) and enjoying the ‘gathering’ part of my hunter-gatherer genes. But, shopping this way has saved me time that I can better use towards writing and creating books. 

When You Are Lost–What foraging maxims can teach us about survival

I’ve been reading When You Are Lost by Joy Colangelo. In this book, she shares foraging maxims that are easy to remember to increase your survival chances if you become lost. She teaches that if you know how to identify one plant accurately, like plantain, then you’ve found one of the most useful plants in the forest. But, if you knew that all square stemmed plants are edible, you’ve increased your chances from knowing 1 plant to 7,000 edible square stemmed species of plants. 

The basic maxims she teaches in the book are:

• All square stems are edible
• All grasses are edible
• All reeds and sedges are edible
• All cactus are edible
• All seaweed are edible
• All conifers (exception is Yew, it is poisonous) are edible
• All inner tree barks are edible
• Almost all insects are edible
• All eggs are edible
• All dirt –yes, dirt is edible

And she gives maxims for what to avoid:

• Never eat a shiny leaf
• Never eat a flat pan-like leaf base
• Never eat a white berry
• Never eat a milky stem
• Never eat a red spotted stem

And there’s so much more in the book. I took tons of notes but will reread this book again and use it to nature journal with to really learn and remember it all better. 

You can find this book on Amazon here: When You Are Lost—What foraging maxims can teach us about survival by Joy Colangelo

I’m off to finish the newsletter and get some groceries. Tomorrow it will be 80 degrees and we’ll go out for a drive to enjoy the warm weather.

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