Monday, April 23, 2012

That Squirrel Takes the Cake

A few days ago I made a simple cake.  It's the sort of cake you might serve for brunch, not too sweet.

Just for fun, here's the recipe:

1 1/2 cups all purpose-flour
 3/4 cup sugar
 1/2 cup sliced almonds, save a handful to toss on top 
2 teaspoons baking powder
 1/4 cup milk
 1/4 cup melted butter
 2 eggs
 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Combine, pour into 9 inch round cake pan coated with cooking spray. Scatter the handful of almonds the top of the batter.  Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.    




This morning a chunk of that cake was still sitting in the cake dish.  Not a fan of stale cake, I flung it out the front door.  In no time, Sparrows, Starlings and a Gray Squirrel had the slice surrounded.

Later, when I peeked out the back door I saw two Sparrows in a tug of war over a marble sized piece of that cake.  Still later, I opened the back door and stepped outside.  A squirrel dashed from the flowerbed located beside the door. 

My dogs joined me outside.  Soon they gathered around that flowerbed.  Remember that chunk of cake, the one with a marble sized piece removed from it?  Well, it was nestled in the far corner of the flowerbed next to the house behind a Spirea bush. 

Now, circumstantial evidence tells us the squirrel put it there.  Why would he put this wonderful find right next to the house, inches from a door where dogs and people come and go?  It seems a foolish hiding place.  But think about it.  That squirrel lives here.  He knows the goings on around here.  It is a brilliant place to temporarily hide such a treasure!  The birds won't go into such a dangerous corner to get it.  And since Mr. Squirrel had acted quickly when the cake first appeared on the lawn, maybe he's the only squirrel who knows about this bounty.  Maybe Mr. Squirrel and those few birds are the only ones who know about the piece of cake.  So he hid it a place that isn't likely to get much traffic from the competition.  Then he waited for a chance to reclaim the prize. 

An hour later when I looked in that flower bed, the cake was gone. 





Thank you http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/mammals/squirrel/ for sharing the squirrel picture.

6 comments:

  1. The squirrel loves you for it, of course!

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  2. Squirrels... so cute, unless they get into the house....

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  3. We have a squirrel who's been with us for six years now. When we moved to the opposite side of the apartment complex, I worried that it might take her a few days to find us.

    I think she came up on the moving truck.

    I leave a handful of peanuts in a planter next to the front door. She comes at sunrise and sits on one of the patio chairs to eat. And leaves the shells for me to clean up!

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  4. Oh to think like a squirrel. Very cute Lynn!

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  5. I once befriended a family of squirrels, not with food, but music, some traditional music from the Dominican Republic with sassy beats and Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto 3.

    I felt sad when I left Seattle and my family of squirrels. I miss the mother parading her babies every spring.

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    1. That is so cool! The room next to that flowerbed is almost always oozing classical music, including invariably, Rachmaninov! You've given me some lovely things to think about. Thank you Moon Child.

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