Orange. Squirrel. Delight.

Inspired by Ross Gay.

The back side of my house faces a few acres of woods. It isn't uncommon for us to toss leftovers and spoiled fruits and vegetables off the deck for the wildlife to munch on. In fact, we have a possum, Gary, that visits our backyard right at dark pretty much every night. I noticed we had several Mandarin oranges that were a little squishy, so I tossed them into the woods thinking Gary or his nemesis, the raccoons, would enjoy a citrusy snack. 

Fast forward a couple days and I was about to hop in the shower. While I was waiting for my shower to warm up, I was looking out the window when I saw a squirrel grab one of those oranges and run up a tree! Luckily for me, my bathroom is on the second floor and the backyard slopes away from the house so I was eye level with the squirrel. She found a comfortable spot on a branch and proceeded to work on the orange. I could see small bits of peel dropping as she spun the orange in her tiny paws. I watched her take a few bites of orange before I had to get in the shower. 

When I got out, I looked out the window and the squirrel was gone but she left the orange for later! The pic is a little blurry as the lighting wasn't the best. If you look closely, you can see the orange where a horizontal branch crosses the tree.