Squirrels

I’ve chosen to write this nature journal about squirrels. I’m not sure why, because I cannot stand them. I guess I wanted to write about something different and I encounter squirrels quite often on campus. My friends make fun of me, because I jump when a squirrel scares me. If one is acting strange or gets too close to me- I will cross the street to avoid it. My best friend thinks squirrels are cute, but I am actually afraid of them.

I think my fear of squirrels stems from my childhood. I am afraid of all rodents. I especially hate rats 1.) because they are gross and 2.) because as a child I found one in our backyard that had gotten into poison and had swollen up the size of a bowling ball. I also found a dead mole that our cat had brought to our back porch. Since I’ve had such unfortunate luck with small, hairy creatures- I hate anything kin to them.

I particularly dislike squirrels on campus, because they are not afraid of humans. They feel way too comfortable around people.  I’ve witnessed two squirrels fighting each other. I’ve even been chased by a squirrel. (okay, I wasn’t chased- it more of came too close to me and I started to run away from it, but still it was scary).

I should have challenged myself to write a nature observation on squirrels, but I don’t think I could make myself focus on a squirrel long enough to observe it nor describe it in detail.

I don’t have much to offer about squirrels, other than I should challenge myself to appreciate their role in nature. The caching behavior of squirrels is important for the renewal of trees. It’s so ironic, because while I’m afraid of squirrels, I absolutely love trees. I wish we didn’t need squirrels, yet I was interested to learn that certain tree species need squirrels to disperse their seeds, so new trees can grow. It’s interesting and sad to realize that one my favorite things is dependent on my least favorite thing. That’s the irony of life I suppose.