Nuttin’ Honey.

November’s here, and, as promised, I’m getting back to nature again.

The rain is driving me nuts!

This post recounts my last trek to Council Point Park this past Tuesday. Unfortunately that would be the last time I walked as well. No, I’m not resting on my laurels, as I still have 90 more miles to go to reach my year-end goal.

The rain has definitely worn out its welcome in my humble opinion. The weatherman says we’ve had double the average amount of rain for this time of year – in October we had 4.8 inches of rain, plus we’ve added another 2 inches in the first two days of November. I am sure everyone else is tired of the incessant rain, including my furry pals at the Park.

A tough nut to crack.

But, there are more furry critters at the Park these days. You may recall my “Predators in the Park” post last week? Since then, there are two more coyotes. One is a pup. Please don’t say “aw, how cute ... a wee one” as you know what is like for parents defending their young, human or otherwise. Furthermore, the coyote situation is not great because the City has tried to take matters into their own hands, and shot one coyote. They got him in the leg, and he went limping off with a wounded right front leg. He (or she) has been sighted around the City, and our City Facebook Crime Site forum lit up with pictures of a coyote meandering around the City streets the afternoon of Halloween. I’ve been following this crime site hoping to gain more insight, but there have been no further updates as to any of the coyotes’ whereabouts – perhaps they are good at dodging the authorities, so this case will be a tough nut to crack.

Needless to say, I am worried. I thought the original coyote in the Park was just taking a quick tour then on to other venues; two coyotes and a pup and sightings around our City means they’ve settled into the neighborhood.

In the meantime, I have cute squirrel photos and an accompanying post that’s been bubbling around in my brain the past few days. So, before my brain gets moldy from all this moisture, let me unleash those thoughts.

Walnuts – well, why not?

I knew we were going to have an ugly weather week, so I wanted to ensure I took extra treats to the squirrels on Tuesday as I knew no one would be beating a path to walk at the Park in the pouring rain.

So, on Monday I took a brand-new bag of peanuts to make up for running out of peanuts on Sunday morning and leaving poor Parker (or his doppelganger) starving on the curb in the parking lot.

I went through that entire bag of peanuts, doling out double portions to each squirrel, and a triple portion to Parker, who evidently forgave me for my Sunday sin, as he came racing over to greet me when I arrived Monday morning.

Tuesday, I went flying out the door, since I had stayed up way too late the night before working on my post about slinging hash at the diner, then replying to comments that morning. I keep forgetting I really wasn’t a night owl when I was younger, so why would I be one now? Thank goodness that we set our clocks back this weekend and I’ll be able to leave a little earlier again.

I decided to take the walnuts I had bought for Thanksgiving and Christmas as a special treat. The squirrels are foraging like crazy right now and three days of rain would put them behind schedule. So, Linda came to their rescue.

They don’t sell whole walnuts at Meijer so I got these instead.

Parker was the first one up as he met me in the parking lot. I guided him over to the grass and put a little pile at his feet. Of course they got the sniff test first. The walnuts passed muster and I could tell they were a hit right away, so here you have a squirrel enjoying nuts ... a nuttin’ honey.

I took a few photos then went on my way, doling out walnut pieces to each of the squirrels along the way. They didn’t look for peanuts so I knew they were a good treat for them. Parker nabbed me as I got off the trail so he got double walnuts.

I am weighing my options for excursions for this weekend. Amazingly, the rain will hold off until late Sunday. The possibilities aren’t endless as many of the trails will be soggy or muddy as it is still raining as I write this post.

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