I remember a time when the kids were little that we would just set aside Halloween pumpkins in the backyard for the squirrels to enjoy during the long, cold Chicago winters. It would take several months before the pumpkin would be completely eaten, probably not by squirrels, necessarily but possums, skunks, racoons, etc.
For that reason, our daughter avoids putting out pumpkins in the back where the deck stands because skunks and raccoons have found it to be the perfect habitat.
Tiffany sent me a photo the other day so I could see that she set the pumpkin in their driveway.
She took this photo from between the slats of the blinds.
I thought it was funny that the lid of the pumpkin had come off, and yet, why was there still a stem on the pumpkin?
POSTSCRIPT:
And just in case, you don't believe me that it's a squirrel, here are more photos Tif sent the following day.
Good grief!
You can see he's already gaining quite a bit of weight for the winter.
Lol, that's a cutest pumpkin ever with the pluffy tail stem :)
ReplyDeleteThat was funny the pumpkin with the mystery stem. That squirrel is really getting a round tummy from all of that pumpkin. Makes me wish I would have bought a pumpkin for the squirrels to eat. Our neighbor quit feeding the birds so our squirrels have lost weight.
ReplyDeleteI am glad they are enjoying the pumpkins what a great idea.
ReplyDeleteThat one photo was misleading at first.
ReplyDeleteThat is wonderful that they are feeding the squirrels. I feed the Ferrel cats here.
ReplyDeleteThat second photo was great--I was sitting here scratching my head, huh?? Haha! Anyway, very nice of your daughter to put that out front like that. It's been so consistently hot & sunny here in Pittsburgh the last couple weeks, I still can't believe October has come & gone.
ReplyDeletewow how fun-that's a great eye you have...we have skunks, raccoons and chipmunks around here that like to eat our peaches off our miniature 4 ft tall peach tree each summer.
ReplyDeleteAs a child, my brother and I set our pumpkins on the front stoop to display and went out with our parents somewhere. When we returned, chickens had pecked out the entire face of both of our pumpkins. There were lots of tears back then over those pumpkins but these days I always laugh and think of that when I see other critters eating pumpkins.
ReplyDeleteP.S. We are fortunate enough to have a couple acres so all our pumpkins end up in the woods far away from the house for the wildlife to enjoy.
What a cute, plump squirrel. Now I am sorry I didn't buy a pumpkin just to let the critters enjoy.
ReplyDeleteWhat a HOOT! Generations of squirrels and critters know that house is good for it's buffet! (At first, I thought the photo through the slats was because she was scared of skunks...)
ReplyDeleteI bought an "ugly COVID pumpkin" for Halloween, with knots and bumps and half tan. I thought the multitude of squirrels would get it. Nope, guess it's a harder gourd officially.
Linda in Kansas
Love it!
ReplyDeleteWOW...made me laugh. Thank you both.
ReplyDeleteI love the photo with the squirrel tail. I didn't realize that they liked pumpkins. This must be a great time of year for them!
ReplyDeleteMakes me smile.
ReplyDeleteWe have a pair of squirrels that live behind our home. Those little turds ate 8, count 'em 8! spaghetti squash in my garden before they were ready to pick. Off of 5 plants, I harvested 4 squash :-( At least they didn't get those! It's funny though, they ate the squash and left the seeds as evidence ;-)
ReplyDeleteI've never heard of putting out jack-o-lanterns for the critters, but it's a good idea.
ReplyDeleteSome visitors are a bit of nuisance at times.
ReplyDeleteSo cute! On the few visits to the Mainland to see the kids, my husband would pause for a long time to watch squirrels in the trees, squirrels running across courtyards and squirrels looking at us. We even had to stop to take a picture of a raccoon roadkill as we were driving along. Just like a tourist!
ReplyDeleteWell, I couldn't tell what was happening from that first photo either. Funny!
ReplyDeleteWe left out pumpkins out too, first on the front porch, and then eventually in the vegetable garden and then the compost bin. While the squirrels chewed on them, the pumpkins usually turned to mush before they were eaten.
This post made me smile :)
ReplyDeleteWonderful collection of photographs.
All the best Jan
It was a deer that would eat the pumpkins in my old neighborhood -- and pretty much anything else in the garden.
ReplyDeleteThat's a happy squirrel.
ReplyDelete