A Squirrely Afternoon

 Why don't squirrels have any friends?

Because they drive everyone nuts 🥁 Maybe that's why they need today....

January 21: National Squirrel Appreciation Day

With more than 250 species of squirrels on 5 continents, squirrels are easily one of the most common animals seen everyday. We've got quite the population that reside around our house (and who are now especially rotund after our extended fruitcake toss feedings 😂) Middle loves to watch them run along the top of our fence and our dog is convinced that he's going to catch one eventually. 

We could have easily tossed out some food today and watched the little buggers from the window, but then it wouldn't have been anything special. Luckily, we're not too far from Ohio's unofficial Black Squirrel Town, Glendale. Black squirrels are not native to the area but there's is a sizable population located in this historic village. The story is that a businessman brought a couple pairs back from Michigan with him in the 1940s and they've populated the joint (brown chicken brown cow 😉) To celebrate the village's 150th birthday in 2005, 25 four foot squirrel statues were unveiled, scattered throughout the village. Each squirrel was decorated by local businesses and locations. Today only 13 remain accessable to the public (the rest were relocated to private property or sold off). 

Middle and I decided to take a road trip to see these 13 larger than life squirrels and maybe even spot a real one. We downloaded a Squirrely Gig map from the village's preservation society and headed down the highway. 

We decided to start our trip at the Village Square, since there's 5 squirrels located within walking distance. It was in the low 20's today so we bundled up. We pulled into the square and found our first squirrel. The village is extremely accessible, so we were able to pull the van right up next to the statue. Since it was so cold, we left Little in the warm running van and stepped outside for a quick picture. Once up close and personal with the squirrel, Middle was not so amped up any more 😂

With the cold now paired with Middle's anxiety about being close to a giant squirrel, I decided to make the rest of our tour a driving viewing. He at least loved looking at them from a distance.

The fireman squirrel was his favorite by far.

We followed the map and ended up seeing 11 of the 13 squirrels. The 12th was located on the second floor patio of a sports bar and the 13th, well, we honestly just looked over it on the map until we got home. 

The village itself is a cool little spot filled with history. There's a train depot on the village square and the tracks next to it are fairly busy with train traffic. We saw 3 different trains in the short time we were hanging around the depot area. 

Of course, Middle was pretty excited about that part. We'll definitely have to make a trip back when the weather warms up for a train watching lunchtime.