Lets Jump Together

He looks innocent enough, but after last night’s escapade, he now has a criminal record.

It all started with a bump on the door about 8:00 pm.

A quick look out the peephole revealed nothing, so the door was opened slowly to see what could be out there.

Sitting on the porch and looking up at us was Rusty, the feral cat that had adopted us several years ago.

Nothing worth worrying about if he is sitting there, so we opened the screen door to talk to him.

That’s when we saw the evidence - right on the welcome mat.

At first we had no clue what it was - too big for a mouse and too small for a rat.

And the squirrels are all tucked in for the night.

Or so we thought.

But this was no ordinary squirrel - is had flappy pieces of skin and fur between it’s front and rear legs.

Then it dawned on us - it was a flying squirrel - something that is quite rare in our area.

And something that is protected by the law.

My son’s exact words when it dawned on us what it was - “Rusty, that is illegal!  You are a criminal now.”

The boys quickly buried it, but it had me thinking, if there is one around, there must be more.

Since they are nocturnal creatures, I guess I won’t be seeing too many of them for myself, but I will keep my eyes open in the hours before dark in the hope of seeing them.