Itchy squirrel? probably not....

Observer: Estella Yee
Date: 16 September 2008
Time: 935-955
Location: West of Waller and Smullin
Weather: 67˚F, clear

I discovered an evergreen tree not unlike the Ponderosa Pine, with green elliptical cones that resembled eggs. The 4” cones all grew upright from the tips of the branches. They appear smoother than most kinds because their scales were closed. The diamond patterning made the cones appear ridged horizontally. A single branch stretched out toward the East entrance of Waller Hall to create a low entryway for the entrance. The needles grew in small clusters and formed small spiky balls of leaves. A western gray squirrel surreptitiously leaped up the dullish maize or brown trunk while I was writing. The trunk I noticed had shallow furrows. Circles from where the branches were removed show that the lowest branch would have extended from about 20 feet off of the ground. On the trunk was a 15-foot long auburn streak that spread up to the first branch of . . . you guessed it: squirrel feces. East of the base was a hole where a squirrel most likely dug for vitals. Hazelnut shells and other hulls surrounded the shallow depression. Nearby I heard a bird call out, a monotones and repetitive tone that I nearly mistook it for a hammer ringing in the construction site nearby. Yet, the notes were high and crisp and clear. It ended its long call with a series of quick successive chirps and then went silent. Later on in my day, I caught sight of it; it was a dark-eyed junco. Back to the tree though, as I was about to leave, I noticed that one of its lower branches was intending to grow out horizontal but then decided to grow upward. The exponentially shaped curve makes me believe that the sunlight must have changed drastically for the northeast side. It was probably due to the construction of Waller Hall. Sitting down on a bench to finish up this journal, at the West entrance to Smullin, at the north end of the bench, a squirrel was curiously rolling around in the dirt. It dragged its forelimbs and used its head as a shovel, almost as if to scratch an itch on its back that it couldn’t quite reach. I mistook it for being injured but as I looked on, it suddenly sprang away before my camera was out and ran across the field as if nothing had happened.