My Furry L'il Critter Friends..

Hello all!

I know. A bit of a drought, between Postings?
My apologies. I've been trying to chase down some decent Art jobs..
I figured I'd compensate by sharing a few Quicktime Videos with you.. Featuring some of the exotic Wildlife that exists here in the otherwise staid suburbs of Toronto.. A veritable Scarberian "Wild Kingdom", as it were? Enjoy!

I'm not sure how I fell into this particular habit.. But I've begun feeding the many squirrels, that roam thru our backyards. It's an amusing pasttime. And their (the wee critters) antics can be highly entertaining.
Suzanne has become a bit concerned that my "hobby" is quickly getting outta hand. As some of the braver souls are now practically knocking on my sliding glass doors each day, demanding their daily allowance of peanuts, etc..
Suzanne took some Footage, to show a few of these visits..

First up, is a female I've named: "Squirrely".. See how "creative" I am? Can't you just TELL that I'm an artist? *groan*.. Squirrely loves her peanuts. But she's still pretty skittish around me. I've only got her to take a peanut from my hand, on one occasion. Her usual tact is to approach cautiously, 'til she's inches away.. And then to stop & look at me plaintively.. Scratching for mites with her hind leg, 'til I drop a peanut on the Terrace! heh
In fact, I think you can even hear Suzanne say something in the audio, like: "Just PUT the peanut on the Deck!".. Yes, darling.



The 2nd squirrel is an aggressive male, that I've named: "Blackie".. See how "creative" I am? See, he's a BLACK squirrel.. So, I thought to myself: "Say,-- Blackie would be the PERFECT-est name ever!!" *groan*..
Blackie is a real piggie-for-peanuts. Sometimes he'll see me from WAY across the backyard. Sprint over and snatch the peanut right out my hand.. And without breaking stride, sprint back out across the lawn, looking for a good place to stash it.. Almost like he's running a Relay Race, or something..
He's on you, as soon as you step out on the Deck. And I'll admit I've been concerned I'll lose a finger, on occasion. He also has been known to impatiently "tap" on the sliding doors with his little nails, when he sees me working inside at my Drawing Table..
It's amusing to take a short break to feed him. But like I say,-- he's a little piggie. So, sometimes you just have to draw the blinds and alert him to the fact: the Peanut Ristorante is now CLOSED, 'til further notice!

He seems a bit more skittish in the following video.. But I think that's only due to the fact that he was trying to figger out what Suzanne was up to..



Anyways, that's all I got to show for now..
My new favorite thing, is to feed shelled nuts to the many Blue Jays in the area. They love the unshelled peanuts, too. But it's a constant race between the Jays and the Squirrels, as to who will get to them first? I'll see if I can't get some Footage of that stuff, later..

See ya!