January 21st is the twelfth annual Squirrel Appreciation Day. Started by Christy Hargrove from Asheville, North Carolina, her intent was to assist squirrels and protect them from extinction. Now I know that I’m a bit jaded – o.k., way more than a bit – but I’m not really too concerned about protecting squirrels from extinction. Perhaps it’s just that I’ve spent too much time wandering around Golden Gate Park or pretty much any park in any state – but there doesn’t seem to be a lack of squirrels.
That said, Ms.. Hargrove has no official activities planned for Squirrel Appreciation Day, but is calling on us to put out some extra food for the squirrels that day, or go out and feed some squirrels nuts and berries, or even make a squirrel-house out of some wood to hang on a tree in your backyard. These all seem like ok ideas – but nothing too exciting so we thought we would come up with our own list of things we plan on doing for Squirrel Appreciation Day. Here’s what we’ve got so far:
- Don’t let my dog chase squirrels up a tree;
- Don’t let the kids dig up the nuts the squirrels have buried for the winter; and
- Talk to Punxsutawney Phil about taking a year off and letting a squirrel “phil” in
Got any better ones?
Now here’s one squirrel we all can appreciate!
Thanks for reading!