Melvin-Dancing with a Squirrel!

Love at first sight!

Meet Melvin, my new muse. He just ran out of the back bush up into a tree beside our back deck and into our hearts. The boys decided to name him Melvin (I guess that's a good name for a Squirrel- and no, I do not know if Melvin is actually Melvillina).  I just know as he clutched his little furry spot over his heart, that I too felt a little tug at my heart. 

Our backyard backs onto a large bush area, so a day without wildlife is highly unusual. I've given up gardening as the deer an rabbits eat it up before it even has a chance to do much(Yes, I have tried every repellent -human hair, Irish Spring Soap, fences, etc) And now, it appears I can add a Squirrel to our list of co-habitats. I suspected that this guy was around as I dug out my planters in Spring to re-pot and discovered stashes of peanuts and sunflower seeds. I also suspect he was a little tame as we did the "trust me" dance this morning. I started taking pictures of him only to discover that instead of running away he came closer! I quickly ran inside the house to rummage through my cupboards to see what tasty morsels I could find for him. The only thing I could come up with is a sweet and salty Nutri-Grain bar ( Now, I have all the animal activist rolling their yes! Even my boys gave me a lecture on how not to feed chocolate to animals-Oops, okay I'll go shopping and buy him some peanuts for next time!) I don't think he minded the tasty treat and he came to get it right in front of me allowing me time to take some pictures -every once-in- a- while scooting up to a higher branch and then returning back down to me. I'm sure I'll see him again and I'll keep you posted on how the relationship grows!

Checking each other out.

Checking me out from a higher position.

That was worth a treat.