At any given time, there might be 6-8 squirrels - grey squirrels, I'm afraid, but I don't really like apologizing for the existence of any given creature - running around in my yard. I toss a little mixture I call Critter Food - peanuts, corn, sunflower seeds - you get the drill - out the door for the ground feeders. The big birds who can't access my squirrel-proof birdfeeders and, of course, the squirrels.
I don't have cats anymore, and when I did, they ignored the squirrels. Couldn't have cared less. But I get visitors from time to time - a graymalkin, an orange shorthair, and a tabby with a blue collar. I think I've seen the tabby chase the squirrels. He belongs to the family I call the red-haired people, two doors up. And you know red-haired people. A little feisty. Would their cats be any different?
So I'm doing yoga one day a couple of weeks ago, watching through the window while in a preparatory Mountain Pose, when my attention is snatched by a squirrel having trouble eating his peanut.
At first I thought he was just a young one (the preparatory quieting of the mind for yoga has just gone, literally, out the window) who didn't quite have the drill down yet. But it's too early for young ones this big. He (maybe she) was having trouble keeping his/her balance - a little tipsy, s/he looked. Finally, he (perhaps she) seemed to get the gist of it, and reared up, peanut in paws, ready to go.
And she (quite possibly he) fell over backward. Where the squirrel stayed, munching away on the peanut.
I can't, even with the binoculars, see the hind feet well enough - seems one of them is splayed out a bit. So, was it a cat? I don't notice limping. And the little fella (gender neutral) can still scamper up a tree with the best of them.
I've written before about my problem having enough patience for yoga. And then, one day, Squirrel!