Category: squirrels

End Of The Season
bees · blogging · bugs · butterfly · Eastern Redbud tree · Flowers · hibiscus · Nature · Nature photography · Photography · spring · squirrels · Summer

End Of The Season

Featured Amy9 Comments

It’s late summer now, and the plants feel like they’re done. It’s been far too hot, far too rainy and the plants are tired. My eastern redbud is dying, its leaves have been dropping all summer and at the base of the tree, you can see the borers doing their damage. The shock of ERJ being sick combined with several other losses this summer broke my heart a little bit. But after some tests, the doctor says my heart is normal. It broke, but it is getting better. I saw a hummingbird a few days ago. I opened the front door and it was hovering above the red Zinnia, staring at me. It looked displeased. I apologized for the lack of selection, but most of the Zinnia had to be pulled because they got powdery mildew. A few days ago, a monarch butterfly arrived to the same plant, and was visibly irritated by the lack of selection. Hopefully they don’t leave me a bad review. I’d like more visitors next year.

I’ve seen a cicada shell, in the usual space I see them. On the clothes pole. I never catch the live bug – I arrive too late.

Ma’am has been here on and off. She had babies this summer, and her face is totally healed. I saw her last week. She’s looking good.

I have four fledgling robins in my backyard, two young squirrels, many sparrows, and very demanding Cardinals. My backyard is the nursery for all of the babies. There was plenty of water at ground level and above in the birdbath, and there are peanuts, served daily. I just wish the moms would come back and pick up their kids!

The hibiscus just finished up blooming. Acorns are dropping prematurely from William I, my 100-year-old Willow Oak. It’s likely due to the weather, or the small acorns not being pollinated. As I said, it was a rough summer.

We’re heading into spider season. I’ve got an office mate named “Stephen with a ph,” and he takes care of any fruit flies for me. I have to be careful not to bump him with my chair or he runs and hides. His cubicle is quite small, so I don’t insist he pay rent. Plus, he’s doing me a service. I only wish he could get the mosquitoes down to his lair.

Here are some photos of late spring and summer. I haven’t posted photos here in a while, and I have missed it. Watch the space for a 🕸️ post.

ERJ before the fatal diagnosis
I had no idea these blooms were the last
Some type of Daisy like plant I couldn’t resist
Wild clover
My mom’s clematis and a purple petunia
A bumble!
Part of a wildflower mix – anyone know?
Basil the pig and friend
Ma’am 💗
Pink zinnia
Hibiscus
Black petunia, my favorite plant
Red zinnia
Cicada shell
Annoyed Monarch butterfly on giant zinnia
I DO NOT LIKE THE PINK KIND, LADY 😠

©️2025, itsamyisaid.com, all rights reserved

There Are Strategies?
animals · birds · blogging · daily prompt · Photography · squirrels

There Are Strategies?

Amy28 Comments

What strategies do you use to maintain your health and well-being?

I wish I would’ve known that sooner. Jokes aside, it’s very difficult to maintain health and well-being in these days and times. Whatever you’re doing, and it’s working for you, and it’s not hurting you or anyone else? Do more of that.

I talk to the plants and the animals. I feed the birds and the squirrels. When it’s really hot, I fill up the birdbaths at least three times a day. Note: birds know when you wake up. Just like cats know when your eyes pop open first thing in the morning, birds know when you’re awake. They can hear you in your room when the alarm goes off and you start reaching for your phone to snooze it. They hear it. As soon as a bird knows I’m awake, it’s in the tree outside of my window chirping at me to get out of bed and do the right thing. And the right thing is to feed it. As I open the blinds, I see many pairs of eyeballs staring at me. So of course I have to feed them.

I visit with my trees and give them pats and scritches on their bark. I sing to my inside plants. I tell them they are beautiful, and when they are flowering I congratulate them on their children. They haven’t complained yet, but maybe it’s because I can’t hear them complaining. I don’t speak plant. Yet.

I very carefully watch for bees and then walk through the grass. It’s very important to be grounded to the actual earth during these times. If you’re not grounding, you may be getting lost in the ether.

I avoid news. I know enough to be informed, but other than that, it’s a detriment to my mental and physical health to invest in anything harmful that has the ability to enter my brain via sound waves and visual recordings. Once taken in by the brain, they can never be taken away. I have learned this the hard way. I must also be careful with reading the written word. But there is slightly more control over getting your news via the written word. 

I keep a routine. Routine helps the brain feel regulated.

I like to go outside and see what I can snap a photograph of. There’s always something, if you’re looking close enough. One of the reasons my mother always kept creating new – and sometimes judged as wacky art projects – was to keep herself occupied and uplifted. It kept her from falling into anxiety and depression. Some may say that’s a little bit nuts, but I think it’s very wise. I have learned this wacky creativity lesson from her and I try to utilize it via photography and in other creative small projects.

I watch shows and films that are comforting or interesting. I will re-watch shows I like specifically for the comfort factor. I try to avoid heavy drama because if I wanted heavy drama, I would not be writing about how to maintain my mental physical health…

Since Susie died, I have been rearranging and repurposing things in the house to make the house more “me.” I have a very tight budget, but this is a new phase of life and with a recent birthday, I’ve decided now is the time to switch things up a bit.

What strategies do you use to maintain your health and well-being? Comment below!

Around Here
bees · beetles · bugs · Eastern Redbud tree · fireflies · Flowers · hibiscus · I love trees · lightning bugs · Nature · Nature photography · Photography · squirrels · Summer · Trees

Around Here

Featured Amy10 Comments

I’ve been taking photographs of flowers and trees and plants and bees…all spring and summer. Ma’am the squirrel makes an appearance in the video below. She’s got babies now and she stops by, but those babies take up a lot of her time. She’s fully healed, so it’s hard for me to tell if it’s her or not her. I ask all the squirrels if they are ma’am. I am pretty sure they think I am the strangest food lady ever.

Some sad news to report on ERJ (my eastern redbud tree, for those who are new here. He and William The First, my Willow Oak, are tied for favorite tree first place): I noticed he wasn’t doing well a couple months ago and had an arborist come look at him. He has borers. The arborist seemed to think ERJ would pull through, but I have serious doubts. I know my tree, and he doesn’t look well. His leaves are yellowing and dropping. He has tons of suckers and tons of seed pods. I feel like this is his last hurrah trying to create new generations. I have applied the insecticide three times now and I don’t think it’s working. You might remember ERJ from previous posts. I will be very sad to lose him, but at the end of this video, you will see I have another redbud in my backyard and its leaves are huge. I love the heart shape of the leaves. It’s truly my favorite type of tree. But don’t tell William.

I hope you enjoy this trip around my flowers, an (unnamed) eastern redbud, a lightning bug, a bumblebee and a squirrel.

Summer, and the livin’s easy
Table For One
animals · blogging · Humor · Photography · spring · squirrels

Table For One

Featured Amy9 Comments

You may not know this, but Ma’am has her own container of walnuts. No one else gets these walnuts but her. I keep it fully stocked. Yes, she is spoiled. She stopped by the café this morning and nicely requested a table for one, so I easily made the accommodations. Not even the starlings knew she was there for 40 minutes snacking, and the starlings know everything.

Happy Weekend, everyone!

Table for one 
Ma’am on Mother’s Day
animals · blogging · Humor · Nature photography · Photography · squirrels

Ma’am on Mother’s Day

Featured Amy4 Comments

She doesn’t come around often, but she did visit on Sunday. She had a snack and a sploot. Splooting is when animals lie on their bellies to cool off on a hot day. Ma’am has perfected this.

Happy Wednesday, everyone. Sploot if you need to.

Ma’am is looking good!
Her tail is stumpy
Self-service
Splootin’ and eatin’
Splootin’ in the shade

©️2025, itsamyisaid.com

Ma’am the Squirrel
animals · blogging · Nature · Nature photography · non-fiction · Photography · spring · squirrels · Writing

Ma’am the Squirrel

Featured Amy9 Comments

What was the last live performance you saw?

This is Ma’am. She frequently does performative art. I’ve been feeding this squirrel for at least four years. Around Thanksgiving, she showed up with two huge masses on her face. She couldn’t eat, but she tried. I didn’t know what to do, but I knew she would die if I didn’t try to help her. I searched the internet for help and found a wildlife rehab nearby. The woman there told me to get the squirrel into a cat carrier and bring her over to her house via car.

I had the cat carrier, but I didn’t have much conviction that this would work. But I didn’t have time to think about how it would fail. I got the carrier out, put it on the porch and loaded it up with peanuts and blueberries. By this time, the squirrel had gone home and I waited on the porch to see if she would return. It was a matter of life or death. I’m not being dramatic – it really was. She came back, and got close enough to the carrier that I was able to push her in and shut the door. I called the woman and informed her that I was successful with the capture and I would be at her house within 20 minutes.

I expected the squirrel to get loose in my car and envisioned a horrific scene of torn upholstery, and a screaming driver with a squirrel on top of her head, but the squirrel was so good. She didn’t let out a peep and enjoyed the ride.

We got to the woman’s house, which is where she runs the rehab for wild animals, and I gave her my friend Ma’am.

I called the next day and inquired about my squirrel‘s face. Apparently, she had two pockets of infection. One had popped with some antibiotic treatment, but the other one needed more time. Ma’am was there nearly a month. I called every day, wanting to know how she was and if she could come home yet.

The woman was astonished that I would want to bring her home because usually people drop off wildlife and the woman releases them into the woods behind her house. But that’s not how I work. The squirrel lives here. She has a nest and a family and friends and a life here.

Remarkably, she got better. She never stopped growling at the woman who was helping her, but she became well enough to be released back to me. I was thrilled. I drove over to pick her up sometime around Christmas. She was quiet all the way home. I let her out of the box on the porch, where she usually eats, and she needed a few days to familiarize herself with her homebase. She came back in a few days, hungry and looking for snacks. I was worried she wouldn’t be as tame with me or as friendly, but I was worried for nothing. But I also didn’t want her to be as tame with me, I wanted her to have natural instincts to stay away from humans and to keep her wits about her out in the wild. 

As I compose this, it is May 9th, and I haven’t seen Ma’am in a few days, but that doesn’t really mean anything. A few times I haven’t seen her for a couple of weeks and she shows up unannounced. But once she’s here, everyone else must leave. She won’t have it any other way. (I have never seen an animal – besides my own cat, Susie – with such a will to live. I’m not sure what power charges that squirrel to keep living, but for Susie, I know it is love.)

Her face has healed up quite a bit since she got home, and although it may never be perfect, I tried my best to help an animal who badly needed it. I don’t regret anything, and I would do it all over again, even if the squirrel didn’t live.

Oh, there is a slight debate going on about whether the squirrel is a male or a female, although I’m almost 100% positive she’s a girl. I do know the squirrel growls at everyone and anything except me. She will fight off three other squirrels while she is eating walnuts (this is how a squirrel ends up with two pockets of infection on her face…). And I could swear I’ve seen her in previous summers with babies, but just in case, her name is Ma’am/Mr. Ma’am. It’s not important to me if the squirrel is a boy or a girl. What is important to me is that I help the helpless. I had to do it. She sought me out for help, and I couldn’t say no. I wouldn’t say no. So I said yes, and now I frequently have performative art on my front porch, which does include a sploot or two. May we all find kindness when we desperately need it. May we all be kindness when others need it. May we take refuge in the solace of nature when everything feels heavy and impossible. The animals are worth it. And the trees are worth it too, but that’s another post.

Ma’am under the cherry tree
Almonds are hard. 1/10. 
Splootin’ on a hot day 
Living her best life

©️2025, itsamyisaid.com

Again?
animals · birds · bunnies · daily prompt · Humor · Nature · squirrels · Summer

Again?

Amy18 Comments

Describe one habit that brings you joy.

OK, WordPress, but I have answered this 5711 times.

I feed the birds and the squirrels. And one bunny. I enjoy their personalities. You would think the squirrels would be the most problematic, but this is not true. The male cardinal chirps at me through the window if he misses the morning or evening feeding. He does not relent. He is quite the character. Sometimes he brings his wife – she has better manners. I haven’t seen a single hummingbird this summer, which makes me sad. I wanted the hummingbird from last year to rebuild her nest in the clematis on my porch, but it’s not to be this year.

Here’s a video I took a month or so ago of Ma’am. She’s the most tame and is missing part of her tail. I sat next to her while she munched on peanuts. I could see the brown iris of her eye as the sun hit it. She has gentle eyes.

Let’s convene here again in two months when WordPress asks us the same question once more, shall we?

Ma’am has breakfast
Chaos and Zoomies
animals · Humor · Nature · Nature photography · Photography · squirrels · Summer

Chaos and Zoomies

Amy6 Comments

I posted this yesterday on Instagram. Unfortunately, there’s some type of copyright on the song I used, so the video downloaded without music. I will put the link to the video below. The song is Teenage Dirtbag by Wheatus, which is fitting and really added to the original video, which you can check out on my Instagram page.

Official video for Teenage Dirtbag