A New Marina Friend

 Of the animal variety anyway. 

In addition to manatees, dolphins, and various Silly Walkers (our name for herons and their ilk), we now have a furry, land bound creature to add to our list of neighbors.

Maggie the Squirrel fell out of her nest at a tender young age but luckily for her we have a live-aboard couple here who happen to know a thing or two about squirrel rescue and Maggie was saved. During the heat of the summer while I was Kravitzing about fetching ice, picking up mail, and perhaps purchasing a Frosty or two (damn that Wendy's for being within walking distance), I'd heard some vague comments about a daring squirrel rescue.

And then a couple of weeks ago we had our Quarterly Marina Barbecue get together and Maggie quickly became the star. I (who as a child had a skunk for a pet) was still stunned to find a squirrel zipping about quite fearlessly and running up and down people as if they were trees.

Later on I remembered that during one of my walks the day before the picnic, I'd noticed a squirrel hanging on to a tree just a couple of feet from me.  I stood still and watched it and it stood still and watched me. 'How cute,' I thought before going on my way.  I now realize that it was Maggie and can you imagine what would have happened if she'd jumped on me????

The scream heard round the world I'm sure!

"Maggie wanna radish?"

"No thank you, I'd rather make a nest in your hair."

"Or sit on Hans' shoulder."

"Cute, Schmute!!!!! No creature can compete with me!!"

Just in case anyone is worried about Maggie's well being; the people who rescued her have done this before.  Maggie has been doing very well with being reintroduced back into her real world, has built her own nests in a couple of trees and sometimes she stays out all night long with her new squirrel friends. She also has pajama parties on the boat and brings these squirrel friends (all female so far) back to the boat for sleep overs in her cage.
Eventually she'll probably stop visiting her boat house but I hope I'll still spot her running around like I did yesterday with a big acorn stuffed in her mouth.

____________________________________________

Hans finally got a whole week of vacation so we are going to spend this week 'out' on the water instead of 'in a marina' in the water.
This will be our first Thanksgiving at anchor.