Teenage squirrel punks

My frail next-door neighbor has a black walnut tree that the neighborhood squirrels have always loved. Each year the squirrels drag these green nuts into our yard and store them away in preparation of winter. We find them in windowsills, in baskets and boxes in the garage, and of course, buried in the lawn.

Personally, I love the squirrels. I like to see them gorge themselves at the bird feeders and jump from tree branches to roofs and then scale the side of our stucco house. We even rigged up corncobs on bungee cords just to watch them swinging around.

This year’s squirrels seem to be particularly bold and reckless. They’ve become like a pack of bored teenage boys. In the elderly neighbor’s yard they have taken to consistently tipping over her potted plants and tossing all of the pots contents onto her patio. I know it’s not that funny to her—but I laugh a little bit each time I see her patio ravaged by these fuzzy-tailed hooligans.

And did I mention how loud they are this year? Constantly yelling to one another from rooftop to rooftop. Something big is happening here. I’m just not smart enough to figure it out.