Sneaky Has Changed

It's been a LONG time since I've reported on Sneaky, our resident squirrel known for his clever antics.  To be quite frank, I honestly thought that Sneaky was history due to a recent deck renovation that includes some very slippery rails along with a new pole to hold the bird feeders.

But today, I was quite taken by surprise, when I was in the kitchen, and flashes of blue caught my eye.

Imagine my surprise when I spied Sneaky actually being quite Savage, attempting to steal the food right from under my resident blue bird!

Let me just say from the start, that it isn't easy capturing footage of a fast moving bluebird swooping down on a squirrel in an attempt to scare him from the feeder, but I did manage to snap a couple of photos that will give you the general idea:

Normally, the feeder hangs vertically,  but Mr. Bluebird has just taken a strike at Sneaky

and if you look closely, you can see some blue just below his arm

right before Sneaky decided that he perhaps he should escape

The next thing I knew, Mr. Blue was sitting on  the pole, looking around, as if to say, "You aren't messing with me you smart-alec, stealing squirrel!"

But I'm not so sure that Sneaky is taking the hint.

I don't know about you.....but doesn't he look a bit smug?

Or, perhaps he has turned into Super Squirrel!  After all, he managed to climb up a slippery pole, and maneuver along the slinky coils in order to reach the feeder.

I'll know for sure if I can spot a large "S" on his chest.....but spying that might be a bit tricky!

I'll be sure to keep you posted!

Squirrels 'n Ice

Does this remind you of someone?

Are they squirrels?  Or Chipmunks?

 Well....there's no doubt about this one:

Admiring these unique works of art, I couldn't help but wonder about Sneaky.  Do you recall when he was a daily source of annoyance...ahem....entertainment here?

  

Well, ever since we had the deck redone, Sneaky hasn't been the least bit interested in my feeders. 

Occasionally I look out and see him romping around the backyard. 

And it's obvious to me that Sneaky has snuck quite a stash of nuts in my yard, since I've watched him dig with exuberance, and reward himself with a tasty snack!

But we haven't had any face to face run-ins this year although I must admit that I haven't spent much time near the window this year.

Or, it could be that Sneaky has seen my window ledge and is worried that if he gets in my face, he might join his comrades in my kitchen.

Obviously, I'm not the only person enamored by squirrels, since Sneaky's likeness was captured in a couple of ice sculptures today, and I found them to be quite entertaining.

But we saw much more than just frozen squirrels today!  We were in Lititz, a charming little town near us, who was hosting its annual Fire & Ice Event.  And the weather was perfect.  

When we decided to head out this morning, the temperature was definitely brisk, but the sun was shining, so it felt a bit warmer.  Perfect for us.  Not the best environment to assure the longevity of an ice sculpture.  But I'd venture to guess that most of them didn't sustain too much thawing today. 

But I digress.  I took a lot of photos today, so I'm going to just delight you mostly with photos,  as most are pretty self explanatory. 

That's a little girl kissing a duck. 

A turtle

A toy truck featured in front of a toy store.

Clever....don't you think?

A strawberry outside of a candy shop.

Beauty Salon Scissors

Heart

Duck

Here you see a Bar Tap standing on the sidewalk outside of the Bulls Head Pub.

The "ewe" in the window was our clue regarding this sheep.

It stood outside of a yarn shop.  How entertaining is this?

Flowers

Tow Truck

This stood outside of an olive oil shop

Fire Flame

Saw & Hammer

wrenches

Guitar

Serpent

Listerine Bottle

UPMC Chair

Piggy

Rose

Love

Bow & Arrow

Here you see a hummingbird feeding from a flower.

And, just to give you an idea of the size, I had Marty stand next to it.

Cupcake

St. Bernard

Olypmics

Dressform

Gotcha....didn't I?

Movie film & soda

Statue of Liberty

Lighthouse

And, finally, the Pharmacy sculpture.

I enjoyed the fact that many of the businesses chose sculptures to enhance their picture windows as I felt that it added to the charm of the experience.  And, I'm glad that we chose this morning to check out this event, as we've since had 6 inches of snow fall on us.

I'd say that in this case.....timing was everything!