Meeting Gus
There is nothing like the feeling of waking up early in the morning, well before the forest comes to life. Make some coffee over an open campfire and watch the sunrise over the distant mountaintops. I've always camped in the mountains; the cooler the temp, the better, up to a certain point. I've never had any major trouble with a bear, boar, or any other big dangerous critter in all my years. But as the sun rises, you can feel the temperature drop as the sun pushes down the cool night air, and you appreciate the hot coffee at that point. If you don't drink coffee, I guess you are just out in the cold.
One of these mornings, I was relaxing against an ole Black pine tree (Scrub Pine), drinking my coffee. It was in the fall of the year, and I was glad that I was wearing my lined jeans and plaid wool overshirt as the temp seemed to be getting a little colder than it should have been. Now I love to sleep in cool temperatures, and before I knew it, I was out like a light.
I woke up about an hour and a half later when I felt something against my leg, inside my britches. It was hairy, but it got still and stopped moving around. It was right at the top of my boot. I thought about shooting it through my pants but was afraid that I'd hit myself and be in a real pickle. So instead, I was trying to refill my coffee cup and wait for whatever that thing was to get out of my pant leg. I sat there for what seemed like an hour, but I was getting hungry, and I wanted to start cooking breakfast.
As I was filling my coffee cup, I dropped my thermos. It started rolling down the hill towards the dropoff, about 15 feet away. My thermos is a Stanley, made of metal, and was not quiet. Well, I must have flinched or moved my legs, or maybe the noise woke it up. That critter came out of my pants, jumped on my pant leg, and started chattering at me like it was mad or something.
There it was, a little gray squirrel. WOW, I was scared of a squirrel? Now that takes the cake. I thought to myself. After the little thing chattered madly at me, it jumped off my leg and headed into the trees. My thermos was over the edge of the dropoff and was gone. I'll look for it later, I thought as I headed for my camp.
I made another pot of coffee and cooked a couple of eggs and some bacon. Man, I was hungry. So I started eating, and a few minutes later, my little friend came up to my camp, jumped on the log sitting about 6 feet away from the fire, and started chattering at me again. I had no idea why it was mad at me.
After eating, I took my dishes and went to the creek to wash them up. I tried to ignore the little squirrel but to no avail. I picked up a handful of acorns and put them in a pile for it at what time I guess it decided to put them away for winter.
As the critter was putting his food away, I grabbed my walking stick and headed out to see if I could find my thermos. The dropoff was only about 80 feet, and I was hoping it wasn't destroyed. I found my way to the bottom of the dropoff in about an hour. It seemed like a long way to go for only a difference of 80 feet. But, there it was. in the rocks. It landed on the bottom edge and had a slight dent in the bend at the bottom edge. That was all I had seen. I took it back to camp, rinsed it out, put some hot water in it, and let it sit until the next day. I opened it up in the morning, and WOW, It was still hot. Thank Goodness for the Stanley Thermos Brand.
The following morning was much like the first. I woke up, started the coffee, and sat in camp to watch the sunrise. I love that time of day. I can sit and think quietly with no one around to disturb my thoughts. Drink my coffee and ponder the questions of life. There is nothing like the peace and tranquility of the forest. All the city's noise falls away as you listen to the sounds of all the animals and wonder how they do it so easily. All they worry about is food and shelter, and they live in the forest for free. Now you know there's a democrat somewhere trying to figure out how to charge them poor critters. And they are charging us for the study. You didn't know that, did you? Haha. Okay, I'm off point.
The second day was beautiful and quiet, except for the squirrel. It came back to camp and started chattering at me again. So I had a little talk with it and very quietly explained. I divorced my wife because she chattered at me like that, and I wouldn't put up with it from her, and I sure won't put up with it from it. So I told it the chattering had to stop, or I would cook it for dinner. It must have understood because it left for the rest of the day.
The next day, I decided to pack up and head home. After breakfast, I went and cleaned the dishes and got everything put away in my little motorhome. I then went for a walk and didn't see the squirrel.?It must have understood me the day before. Getting back to my campsite, I made sure the fire was out and cold. Put anything out into the trash and loaded up and left. It had been a great weekend, and I was looking forward to the week. The guys at work will not believe my thermos story because it still kept things hot, and they'd get a kick from hearing about the squirrel. I made it to the highway and was driving along, thinking about planning my next camping trip. Then, I looked into my rearview mirror, and sitting on the sink, looking back at me, was that little squirrel.