Things that go""meow" in the night...

[Tom]

I love squirrels. When we had our training center, Dad taught mechanical classes there and I went on the road all over the country doing on-site T&E training. We had a huge field across the parking lot that was FULL of squirrels. They crack me up. When I would go out the front door to smoke, they'd come to the edge of the parking lot, and eventually right up to me, as I'd grab a couple of fist fulls of trail mix to feed them, I used to buy it by the huge sack at Costco just for the squirrels. I called that field "Squirrel Estates". Dad would keep the front door open rather than turn on the A/C in that huge building, especially since the classroom was near the front door. When I was gone, the squirrels didn't know what to do, so, they'd start sitting by the front door waiting for me. Mom would shoo them away. One day, I was in Idaho or somewhere, class was in session, and they decided to cruise the building looking for me. Dad said he looked up from the front of the class and there were about 2 dozen squirrels standing in the door way of the classroom. The students and Dad ran them off and Dad started setting traps around the building. When I got back to the office and saw that, I got PISSED. I told Dad and the students, and I quote, "See those squirrels out there? Those are MY squirrels, every one of them. Those are my pets, I OWN that field full of squirrels, they are MINE. So, if you value your safety and well being as much as I value my squirrels, DON'T @*$% WITH THEM!!".

From there on, my mom started feeding them fistfulls of dry cat food a couple of times a day when I was gone.

The four animals that crack me up the most are my cats, squirrels, penguins and monkeys. They just never cease to bring a smile to my face.