We got storm No. 8 for the season this past week and the January thaw arrived in time for the February President’s Day holiday. Among the locals, a well crafted squirrel nest (see image at left) sits about twenty feet up and perhaps a similar twenty feet from the house, south side.

The squirrels and their homes are an interesting feature considering we have 4 cats who live in the house and one cat who lives nearby (we are not sure if he has a house or not); here you see him trudging through the snow toward the backyard. He is variously called, “Goldie” or “Barn-kitty”, and despite our feeding him (outside) on really cold days, he doesn’t hang around all that much. He does stay in the garage (hence his nickname of “Barn-kitty”) when he can get inside (that is, during the day, the doors are open and if he is inside at curtain call, he stays in all night); while we have no direct proof, we believe we have fewer mice than we would normally have in the garage because of his presence. As for the squirrel count, there is the curious positive correlation: the more cats, the more squirrels.