Before the impressive computer animation my children assume has always been, there was drawing. Outlines of cartoon characters sketched over and over successively to create a “moving picture.” And there were squirrels. A blue one with a mustache and spectacles, a brown one, and two girl squirrels in love. The Sword in the Stone must be one of my favorite Disney movies. Let me give you some background if you haven’t seen it.

Set in medieval times, Marlin, a wizard, takes under his wing a scrawny orphan boy, Wart, who lives as a servant. Marlin teaches Wart all sorts scientific and life lessons through treacherous, hilarious adventures. There is a scene where they become squirrels. They roll over branches and jump limb to limb. Each of them attracts a female squirrel who grabs their cheeks and fluffs their tails. This is what I’m thinking as I lay cashews on our fencing out back.

We have a new “pet.” He has claimed our yard ever since the kids convinced me to put nuts out for him. Now he comes in the morning shaking his tail and hopping over grass in demand of what he knows we keep.

Picking up the horn shaped-treat in his little paws, he nibbles and examines before running back to his home, wherever that might be. We like to add voice-overs of what he’s saying in his head.
“Gimme, gimme, gimme!”

I wasn’t sure he’d take our offering since the kind of trail mixes we buy are usually salted. Now I think I’m responsible for his high LDL, or is it HDL, or VLDL, or HGTV? Oh LOL. Forget it.