Fat-Bottomed Squirrels.

I originally planned to call this post “Do all those peanuts make my butt look big?” but, with the recent release of the movie about the rock group Queen, I’ve been hearing snippets of Queen’s greatest hits – one of those hits was “Fat Bottomed Girls” so I knew I had to change this post title.

If you’re of a certain age group, surely you drove down the highway, with the windows closed or open, while belting out the lyrics to “Bohemian Rhapsody”? I know I could probably dust the whole house, singing at the top of my lungs, while listening to that song since it is 5 minutes and 55 seconds long.

Anyway ...

You know that squirrels bulk up their bodies as cold weather nears. We had a really cold week back in late August and I began seeing squirrels digging furiously to deposit their peanuts for safekeeping for the Winter ahead. Those squirrels remember last Winter here in Michigan when we had 62 inches of snow in the metro area – I thought it was never going to stop snowing and it lingered into early April. So our furry friends are savvy and have been tucking away goodies for months now.

A friend who knows all about my affinity for squirrels, sent me a website about their habitats and what foods they like to eat. At that website I learned that squirrels forage and bury up to three years’ worth of food in the course of the Summer and Fall. I had no idea! I know the squirrels at Council Point Park take every opportunity to beg for peanuts or other treats from the three guys and myself who regularly feed them. I also learned at this website that it is not those peanuts, walnuts or Nutter Butters that I feed my pals that increases their girth and makes them waddle rather than scurry these days, but they develop not just an extra layer of fat, but a thick “under fur” to enable them to withstand the Winter elements.

Just for comparison, here was Parker back in early July before the hunting and gathering began – check out that slim profile!

So now that you know the truth behind those added inches, which likely many of us will add to our waistlines in the coming six weeks, I offer you this collection of chubby squirrels. Enjoy!

You can catch up on my blog posts before I started blogging at Patch in August 2013 by going here: http://lindaschaubblog.net