Treehuggers

Yesterday, before the snow, I was looking out our back windows and noticed our squirrels in their cubbyhole.  We haven't seen them there much since a). our neighbor's tree next to ours split in half and then was removed, leaving a lot less foliage in the area;  b). part of the knot enclosing the hole was knocked out, opening the hole more to the elements; and c). we trimmed our tree back and had it cabled.  And in truth, we hadn't seen Stumpy, our squirrel with a half-tail, in awhile--now we just call all squirrels "Stumpy."

So yesterday, I saw "Mrs. Stumpy," sitting in the knothole, her big white fluffy belly catching my eye.  Then I noticed Mr. Stumpy running across the top of our swingset.

Mrs. Stumpy

And in a little bit, I swear I saw Baby Stumpy next to Mrs. Stumpy in the tree!  It poked its little head out a few times before Mrs., or should I say Mama, Stumpy "told" it to go back in.  I've never seen a juvenile squirrel before.

Mrs. Stumpy and Baby Stumpy

The photos are enlarged from cellphone pictures, taken at thirty plus yards away.  I'll have to keep a better camera in the kitchen in hopes of seeing the Stumpys again.