January 18

I mentioned flying squirrels, and we’ve experienced these first hand. Since moving to our wooded home, we suspected that flying squirrels were about when we began to notice their high-pitched shrill of a call in the summer and fall nights. A year or so went by without any sightings, until one late fall day I received a phone call from Sarah in the middle of the day. She had a close encounter with one of the shy little troublemakers.

Evidently, one had slipped down the chimney pot that feeds into our beehive oven next to the big Rumford fireplace. Sarah heard the racket of something scurrying around in the fireplace room. When she opened the door to investigate, there was the flying squirrel, clinging desperately to one of the curtains next to the window. It evidently had the good sense to try to escape.

Sarah opened another one of the windows in the room, grabbed a long handled broom and placed it gingerly next to (beneath) the squirrel, whereupon that little creature transferred its grasp to the bristles. After moving the broom slowly to the open window, the squirrel made a quick leap into the void and glided away down to the woods not 20 feet from the house.

The only other encounter happened just this fall, and I’ve never seen anything like it before. We were out in the front yard finishing up raking the last of the oak hold outs when all of a sudden I saw this object fall from one of our tall maples that sits next to the garage.

One of our terriers (Tag) saw it drop to the ground. He rushed over and reached it first, and my only glimpse as I approached confirmed that he bit into some creature that was momentarily stunned after the fall. Tag was reluctant to let go, and I can only imagine what was going through the dog’s mind about squirrels just dropping from the sky like manna from heaven.

The squirrel lay dead on the ground, and I grabbed a stick to help transfer it to the woods. Flying squirrels really are beautiful to see; the distinct separation of brown fur on its back from its whitened under belly, with its large skin fold between its legs and large darkened eyes. It is unmistakably cousin to the grounds and reds but adapted to its own way of life that makes it a curious and beautiful thing.