Pardon Me, Madam . . .

But might you happen to have . . . a nut?

(Alas, no, I do not. But I think this fella might be able to help you out!)

It was a day that was winter in the morning and summer in the afternoon. We began the day with a hard frost, and I admit that in morning, I wished for a warmer coat than the thin one I had on. But by afternoon, I was tromping quite comfortably across campus in a short-sleeve shirt!

The squirrels are very busy lately doing the things that squirrels do in November. Campus is just full of them, and they are very tame. They can be seen scampering here and there, truffling through the leaves, finding and hiding their nuts.

I was on campus for a meeting in the afternoon, and as I was walking up the mall near Old Main, I saw this squirrel. First, I saw just its dark shadow against the light. But then I took two steps to my left and this was my view. The tree was no more than a half-dozen feet away.

The squirrel seemed practically glued to the tree, and it was clasping and unclasping its little paws prettily and giving me a soulful look. I am not sure I would say the campus squirrels are aggressive, but they sure are plenty assertive!

Not far away was the little duck pond that I visit whenever I get a chance. And with the temperature hovering near 70 degrees F, three turtles (see extra photos) were basking blissfully on a rock in the middle of the golden pond, and another one was on a larger rock not far away, flexing its back legs.

The turtles will be getting ready to hibernate in the coming few weeks. They will dig down into the mud beneath the pond and spend their winter there, not even breathing, if you can imagine that. (The thought of it makes me a little claustrophobic; I guess I'm lucky I'm not a turtle!)

Gray squirrels don't officially hibernate, but if they did, I know what they'd be dreaming of: nuts! And as far as the turtles, well, I do not know what turtles think about, but I suspect that memories of this summer-like November afternoon on a golden pond would make a fine mid-winter's dream.

The song to accompany this image is Danny Wright, with Autumn Dreams.