When our first was a baby, I read everything I could get my hands on about nutrition and childhood: I was going to be a good parent to this perfect little new person.
One of the things I wanted to do right was to set her on a lifelong path of liking her veggies. (I guess I succeeded; she’s now the family vegetarian.)
So. Sweets were out, even fruit juice till she got a little older–didn’t want to train her to have a sweet tooth, especially since type 2 diabetes was all over my extended family.
She was a young toddler when we were visiting back home one time, and my mom happened to make a really nice dessert for everybody. When Mom was done, she put the spoon she’d been caramelizing the sugar for the sauce with in the dishwasher and turned away a moment, leaving the door down.
Sam toddled over just then and happened to grab that interesting-looking big spoon and, what else was a toddler going to do, stuck it in her mouth.
There was no wrestling it out of her hands. The *look* on her face. What WAS this?!! YOWZA!!!
The squirrels vacuum in ever-wider circles under the birdfeeder, sniffing for any stray seeds, Roomba style. Leave’em alone and they’ll clean the place right up.
Someone gave me some just-slightly-sweetened walnuts for Christmas. I love’em, can’t eat’em, and nobody else here was going for them. I finally decided, well, there’s more than one way to get entertainment value out of a food, and I put just a few outside.
I turned my head and one disappeared so fast I didn’t see it.
Then a bluejay swooped down, grabbed the second, then the last, then stood there with its beak very full waiting for the black squirrel who’d been coming for them as if to taunt it, flying away at the last moment. Neener neener! Got YOU, buddy!
Sibling rivalry, much?
I waited till the littlest black squirrel was around and put two more out just for it.
And it was like watching Sam at the dishwasher all over again. What IS this?!! Oh. My. SWEEeeeEET!!
It jumped up on a chair back to get a good view of anything incoming that might try to take it from her. She didn’t run off with it, but sat there nibbling thoughtfully away. It was a full half; it took her awhile. Then she came down and went looking for more.
And found it. Even my opening the door to get a clearer shot (backlit by the lowering sun, but it was a good try) couldn’t dissuade her from staying right there savoring every second. S U G A R.
Great Christmas present, truly. I totally love it.
12 Comments so far
Leave a comment
But Sam turned out to be a vegetarian, anyway. Does she like sweets? I think I’ve had a sweet tooth since before I was born, but please don’t send me those walnuts — I’m allergic to nuts.
Fun –
“We apologize for the error in last week’s paper in which we stated that Mr. Arnold Dogbody was a defective in the police force. We meant, of course, that Mr. Dogbody is a detective in the police farce.”
–Correction
Notice in the Ely Standard, a British newspaper

”If somebody has a bad heart, they can plug this jack in at night as they go to bed and it will monitor their heart throughout the night. And the next morning, when they wake up dead, there’ll be a record.” –Mark S. Fowler, FCC Chairman
IF it isn’t sugar and grease, I am not eating it.
Comment by sherry in idaho 01.05.10 @ 9:13 pmThe black squirrel needs a name. Sam jr? Or maybe Homer (after Homer Simpson who has a sweet tooth). I knew a family who named one of the fish in their aquarium McEnroe after the tennis ace because he was so bad tempered he would scare the other fish away from the food.
Comment by LynnM 01.06.10 @ 1:35 amInteresting how even squirrels appreciate diversity in food…
I’m also with Lynn – we need to find a name for the black squirrel. I’m sure you’ll come up with something witty, you and your family. 😉
Comment by Suzanne in Mtl 01.06.10 @ 7:05 amMy guess is you’re enjoyin’ those walnuts more this way than you would’ve had you eaten them.
Great squirrel shots!
Hey, Roomba works.
Comment by LynnM 01.06.10 @ 9:25 amI want a black squirrel or 2 of my very own.
I can see why they stick around your house!
Big smile. I love that you found a way to enjoy the nuts just the same. That dear little squirrel will never look at a walnut the same way again!
Comment by Channon 01.06.10 @ 9:59 amThe squirrels and Steller Jays that frequent our yard were treated to our leftover holiday nuts, still in the shell. The walnuts and filberts (common trees around here) went over well enough but once they discovered those unusual, bright red pecans, oh my, the chase was on.
Comment by Marlene 01.06.10 @ 10:58 amSo funny. One taste of sugar is ENOUGH! Nothing is quite the same after that. . . .
Comment by Karen 01.06.10 @ 4:51 pmAnd no other nuts will ever taste as good. You have RUINED that poor squirrel forever!! (laughing as she hits “say it”)
Comment by Leslie 01.08.10 @ 7:49 amLeave a comment
Line and paragraph breaks automatic, e-mail address never displayed, HTML allowed:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>