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Another squirrel pic.  This guy looks like he can't decide whether he wants to have a drink or get in and pretend it's a hot tub.

Up in a tree.  This particular squirrel has fought a running battle with the bluejays in the backyard.  We throw out a handful of peanuts and while he's eating one of them, the bluejays are mobilizing.  They swoop down, grab a nut, fly off and hide it somewhere, then come back for another load.  Sometimes, a bluejay will pick up each nut, one at a time, then carry off the heaviest one.  Sometimes, a bluejay will manage to carry off two at once.  However they do it, they do it.  By the time this squirrel is through eating one nut, the bluejays have made off with all the rest.  In this shot, I like to think he's studying the bluejays, trying to think of a way to outsmart them.

Another neighborhood cat.  I just like the expression on this one.  He seems to be saying, "If you're going to take my picture, you could at least put out better food."

We now have a new generation of raccoons infiltrating the yard.  In the last week or two of August of 2003, they started turning up: A mother (I think) and six kids.  The mass of fur at the top of the picture is the adult.  I find it interesting to presume that the mother is one of the raccoons who can be seen at an earlier age in the earlier photos I posted.  My friend Carolyn and I speculate that they live some distance from here and that when they get hungry, they trek on over here.  The mother leads them, just as her mother once led her to my cat dish.  It's like a rite of passage: "Come on, kids. You're old enough to go to the writer's house and eat Friskies Chef's Blend.  Someday, you'll take your children there."  And they will too, assuming I don't go broke buying cat food.

From last night (9/5) around 3:00 in the morning.  I didn't see the mother so it's possible the kids have learned how to get here on their own.  All six kids were out there but I couldn't get them all in the same shot.  It was almost like they were taking turns standing guard.  They cleaned out the dish.  I went out to refill it and they disappeared in nearby trees.  Two minutes after I went back into the house, they were back to clean out the dish again.  Growing boys need their Friskies.

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