January 21st 2013 ~ Happy Squirrel Appreciation Day !!!

| January 21, 2013

It’s a big day in America …

It’s National Squirrel Appreciation Day

Most of us celebrated by looking for and gathering nuts in an attempt to survive the winter.

American Squirrels are more important than most folks think – they are a nuisance to a lot of people but a great food source for many – especially important in the founding and exploration of early America and up to this day.

They can be a lot of fun to watch as they play in the spring. But they can be a problem to the home owner and gardener. However, they are more beneficial than folks may think …

Even Benjamin Franklin took one to England before things turned bad in the colonies. They were referred to as a “skugg” back in those days. It caused quite a stir as a conversation started back then as the squirrel is not to be found on the British Islands. His squirrel became quite famous and was known all over Europe as “Mungo the Skugg”.

Of course, they are delicious.

I never had better fried squirrel in my life than from my paternal grandmother. It was quite amazing in taste and texture. Her fried rabbit was also quite amazing and I would always look forward to it.

When I was a boy, a small group of friends would camp out and hunt squirrel with our pellet guns and that night cook them rotisserie style over a fire. Tied to an improvised pine stick. We weren’t very good at seasoning or marinading at the time – but grilled over a fire, the meat was quite tasty to us.

I was never very good at cleaning a squirrel. Their hair easily gets on the meat when pulling off the hide and it just won’t come off – even washing it with water … my buddy up the street was a real expert – so we always let him do the skinning. He had a way to make a cut around the neck and shoulders and the hide would come off in one piece with no hair on the meat. I could never do it as well as he could.

Other than the significance of National Squirrel Appreciation Day, I did hear it was also National Hug Day. So make sure you hug a squirrel today …

Celebrate this significant day by taking your family and/or significant other with binoculars out into a wooded area to observe the squirrels in nature.

It may be too cold depending where you are in the nation – but in the southeast it’s quite fun to take along a big bag of trail mix to share with the squirrels.

Especially if you have smaller kids who will have more fun watching the squirrels than any video game at home.

Any park or backyard with a good number of trees will do.

Squirrels are
nature’s clowns.

Category: Tony Rollo Blog

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