Something's squirrely 'round here

I probably would have grown up hunting squirrels — except we didn’t have any squirrels in Portales. That’s all changed, though, and I’m looking for squirrel recipes.

As I was irrigating my petunia farm the other morning I rounded the corner of the house and nearly tripped on one of the bushy-tailed tree rodents. He casually scampered across my driveway and headed for my neighbor’s beautiful towering spruce trees.

As I watered flowers a neighbor appeared and I asked if she saw the squirrel. “Yes, they’re so cute.”

The neighbor moved closer to chat and as she got close enough for conversation she said “You may not like this but we transplanted them here.”

I knew they had been around awhile because I’d seen little squirrel selfies on Facebook with Portales landmarks in the background for at least a couple of years. I thought I had stumbled onto the genesis of squirrels in Portales, but it turns out she had only invited a half dozen of the nut-hoarders to our neighborhood from a friend’s house on Abilene Street.

The first squirrel sighting I made in Portales was at Clyde Powell’s shop. That waterfall and pine tree he has in his front yard always makes me feel like I’m in Cloudcroft but I did a double-take when I saw that rascal sitting on the tree branch. I asked Clyde if he knew he had squirrels and he said, yeah, but most of them were pretty good customers.

Prior to that encounter my mother had been complaining that squirrels had been digging in her back yard under the pecan tree. She had never seen the little guys but she was sure she had them so we teased her about squirrels stealing her pecan crop.

I’m still not sure if she’s seen the critter but I no longer deny the fact that she probably has them, especially with all those delicious pecans around.

If you look closely you can see squirrels at City Park, I’ve seen them there myself. They show up twice a day, right after the kids free breakfast and lunch programs. You can probably watch them at Rotary Park and the ENMU campus since I’ve heard a lot of people in that area have them. I’ve even heard of one person actually buying squirrel food to put out in his yard in that area.

They can also be sighted in my front yard. I seriously doubt they’ll venture into my backyard with two dogs on patrol but my wife swears she saw one run up our spruce tree with a dog in hot pursuit. It’s possible but she wasn’t wearing her contact lenses at the time.

If they’re back there I’ll likely see them soon, hanging out at the bird feeders, smoking cigarettes and chatting up the neighborhood robins.

Anybody who doesn’t believe Facebook is spying on us should know that, mysteriously, Ray Stevens’ song “Mississippi Squirrel Revival” showed up in my feed as I sat down to write this column.

Please let me know if a squirrel goes berserk in a church near you.

Karl Terry writes for Clovis Media Inc. Contact him at:

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