THERE ARE NUTS HERE!

While smoking my pipe after lunch I came face to face with a beast. 
That is to say, I was chilling with some flake when the creature wandered by.

For several minutes we kept each other in sight, out of the corners of our eyes.
No sudden moves, no loud noises. Relax, dude, it's all cool.
It circled around me, staying mostly in the shadows of the parked cars.
Investigated everything, including wheel wells.

I guess it was looking for nuts.
Which does NOT explain why it was interested in me!
And if you thought so, consider me properly huffy right now.


I believe it was a California Ground Squirrel.
Otospermophilus beecheyi (in the family Sciuridae).
Didn't know that they liked suburban industrial warehouse parking lots.
If I had known it was going to be there, I would've brought some tortilla chips from the kitchen for it to eat. Maybe the next time. Plus some salsa, for the vitamins.
Salsa turns tortilla chips into a nutritious snack.
I am concerned that it should eat properly.
A balanced diet means a shiny pelt.
And a happier saner squirrel.


On the way back from smoking I found an acorn on the ground.
That explains why the squirrel hung around.
It thinks I stole its nut!

That wasn't true then.
It is true now.
Mine!



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