Rolla

Meet our newest squirrel in residence: Rolla. She has been here for about a month and evidently has replaced Denton, whose whereabouts are unknown. We have speculated that she is related to D as they both exhibit a curious behavior: they lounge on their bellies. On a tree branch, on a pool railing, they splay out their limbs and chill. We never have seen this before-usually, squirrels keep in motion except to "prairie dog" or to have a snack. 

We named her Rolla-short for Roland (the original name until I noticed no male parts under the tail), whose was a valiant and courageous warrior in the time of Charlemagne. She is fearless. C first encountered her and of course, tossed out some peanuts.  Rolla came right up on the deck within feet of C and after a week, was close to accepting a peanut from her hand. Once summer finally arrived and we suppered on the deck, we always have some peanuts on the table. Rolla often stops in, although not to snack, she immediately runs off to bury her treasure. We notice a curious routine: she will pick up the peanut, inspect one end, turn it over and check out the other. She seems to be gnawing a bit on it,I joked she was putting on her personal bar code to warn other squirrels that this is her property. C and I agree that Rolla seems to be checking to make sure the peanut is intact with no holes thereby insuring the nut will be protected once burying.

What earned Rolla her moniker was her fearlessness around the katters. Most squirrels will flee if they see a feline heading their way and usually head to the nearest tree where they angrily chatter with their tails whipping back and forth. A few will stick around to mess with the cats just to piss them off as they are much faster and agile. Not Rolla-we have seen her walk calmly past a cat who is only a couple of feet away. We watched with amazement the first time Rolla did this to Tomi, who generally would immediately charge. Instead, Tomi sat there watching, gobsmacked by the sheer chutzpah of this squirrel. If Tomi's jaw could drop to the ground, it would have done so. Rolla has done the same to Bin and Molls and again, our buddies have just sat there watching. Meanwhile, Rolla goes about her routine, picks up and inspects the peanut then scampers off to bury. 

I asked Bin about all of this and he was filled with admiration. "What about the girls?" I asked. "Well, Tomi is confused," he replied and "Molls is wary and a bit pissed. I am too old to try go head to head with a squirrel no less one who is young and obviously so bold. Eh. More fun to watch Tomi who acts like she doesn't know if she should shit or go blind, lol."