Say Hello To My (Not So Little) Friend...

 

Yesterday my almost-90 year old stepdad and I managed to horse this hefty critter into the back of my Explorer so I could bring him home. When we first came back to Wisconsin, this large carved squirrel sat out in front of an antique shop called The Plaid Squirrel. I admired it every time I drove up the east shore of the lake (Winnebago) where the shop was located.

I drove past it three years (or so) ago to see that the shop had closed and the squirrel was gone. On a visit to my mum's, I saw it sitting out in front of their home and recognized it immediately. I asked her if it was  from The Plaid Squirrel and she was surprised that I knew that. They had gone up to the shop when it was closing, and bought it. I told her I loved it, and we laughed at the sign. (On the reverse it says "Go Away") They actually screwed the sign with the "Welcome" greeting facing out, to keep it from blowing away.

 

Right before my Birthday last year, Mum called to tell me that the squirrel was my gift from them, and I could pick it up any time. The weather turned, so we agreed I'd come and get it in the spring. Yesterday was the day. (As an aside, this is officially the longest "extended" Birthday to date - nearly five months! yay!)

Loading it was a real task as it's awfully heavy. Dad B and I barely got it off the ground, and grunted as we slid it into my vehicle. All the way home I contemplated just how I'd be getting it out of my car to place it. As I drove up the driveway, I decided that the bucket on the front of our big yard tractor would be just the ticket.

I opened the back hatch, and brought the tractor around. Once I had the bucket in place, I pulled the squirrel out the back and onto the bucket. Then I stood it up, tilted the bucket back and moved it over close to its intended location. I had a hand cart waiting next to the bucket as it was lowered. Then, I slid the squirrel onto the cart and rolled it into place. Truthfully, I was on pins and needles, fearing it might fall off the bucket during the move, but it couldn't have gone smoother.

Granted, that's one sad planter sitting on the base, but I intend to add some of my large wooden acorns, and as soon as it gets a bit warmer, I'll have flowers potted all around it. As you can see from this photo, the hollyhocks already have a head start over the rest of the flowers (except a few tulips, and daffodils). They do like this protected southern exposure!

I have extra rogue hollyhock plants that have self-seeded, so I'm going to dig them up and take them to Mum. She used to have them in our backyard when I was growing up, and she allowed as how she'd love to have some of these giants. I warned her she might be sorry for asking, but I'll definitely be taking some to her soon.

Now I need to come up with a name for this large squirrel. Do you have any ideas? If so, please leave them in the comments. See you tomorrow!