Squirrel Gifts

In the local woods where Mollie and I walk, the trees are dropping cones. It seemed to start with the Grand Fir but has now moved through the Douglas fir and Western White pine. (The Lodgepoles hold on more preciously to their cones.) Now Ponderosa is getting into the act.

The squirrels of course must be in heaven and there is evidence all over the forest floor with little piles of scales on stumps and logs. It is really everywhere.

The industrious squirrels will sit high up in the crowns of trees and drop them to the ground to then dismantle later. Walking under some trees you will hear a slow rhythmic thumping with a cone falling every couple seconds.

Other times there will be just a single cone fall with the cascade of sound as it bounces down the branches and lands with a loud thump. You might think it just fell on its own but chances are you will hear the chittery scolding of a squirrel. And here is where Mollie gets involved.

She hears the squirrels and she sees and hears the cones as they fall. She runs over to these tight green cones and picks one up and runs off down the trail. She will hold it for a mile or more if nothing else distracts her. She will carry even the thorniest Ponderosa cones.

Mollie has a sense of joy when she gets a squirrel gift. There are pine cones all over the forest yet she seeks out these dropped gifts. Sure she may be attracted to the noise and motion but I sense and prefer to believe that she knows the squirrels drop them and this makes them more interesting.