Thursday morning I rolled out of bed and peeked out the window, which is what I do every morning.
However, what I saw that day wasn’t normal.
To the north of my house in Moundridge, Kan., I saw a furry mass flopping around the base of a tree.
At first, I was puzzled as to what the furry mass was, but then it moved and everything became clear.
It was a herd of squirrels.
I had never seen a herd of squirrels before, and I don’t even know if squirrels travel in herds technically. Maybe they are called a troop or gaggle of squirrels. I don’t know, but in any event, I saw a herd.
As I watched, the herd began moving toward the busy street of Christian Avenue near the intersection of Christian and Pack.
It was fascinating to watch because there were seven or eight squirrels in the group, and as they scampered about, they all were moving at a different beat. The result looked like a flowing stream of fur.
My intrigue was quickly disrupted when I realized the herd was going to cross the street and cars where whizzing by in both directions.
Rather than do anything to help save the herd, though, I just watched.
The lead squirrel, which I assume was the mother, led the rest of the group, which I assume were the children squirrels, across the street.
It was a stop-and-go journey as the leader’s every move was replicated by the rest of the herd.
There was one tense moment when the herd got to the middle of the intersection in their diagonal crossing.
A small car flew toward the herd from the north, but the car’s driver apparently saw the herd standing in the middle of the road and put on the breaks, stopping a few feet short of the animals.
I’m sure the squirrels were aware of how close to death they just were, so I would like to think they said thank you to the driver before scurrying the rest of the way across the road and to another tree.
After the squirrels disappeared into the grass, the car’s driver slowly left the area, and I continued on with my morning routine.
It wasn’t that big of an event, but it was different from anything I have ever seen. At most I’ve only seen two squirrels together at one time, so seeing a whole herd was cool.
I just wish I would have acted quickly enough to snap a picture. Otherwise who is going to believe I saw a herd of squirrels?
Well I did, and if anyone has a picture, I would appreciate you sharing it with me.
I take you on a nice Saturday outing and you promise to write about it on your blog. Instead of reading all about the fun we had in Concordia and Nebraska I see you wrote about a herd of squirrels. It lets me know how much you really think of your adopted old man, I rank lower than squirrels. Your adopted mom is very disappointed in you son.