Friday, November 22, 2013

Hoarding

There are five baby squirrels living in the tree just outside my window at the library.  Every day at about 3:30pm, they emerge from a big hole in the side of the tree to race up and down the trunk and out to the edges of the branches and back again.  Mom and Dad Squirrel remain close by watching the action.  I have never really seen squirrels at this close range previously and I am fascinated by their antics.  One of them loves to go to the outermost part of the branch where it is thinnest.  Another is an acrobat who loves to whip himself around and around the branch.  They love to chase each other up and down the tree.  Their tails are bushed right out full to help protect against the cold.  They look so cute and fluffy.  I could watch them for hours.

This morning, I was treated to a morning romp on the tree from my friends.  One of the babies sat directly across from my window eating an acorn.  He sat there for probably fifteen minutes, munching and munching at the nut.  I watched as Dad carried acorns to the nest in the tree…up and down he went at least four times today alone.  I hope that Mom and Dad Squirrel have enough nuts and other goodies stored away for the long winter ahead of us.  Squirrels hid their cache in lots of different places as well as their nest, apparently.  I guess you could call them “hoarders”.

As I watched the squirrel eat and thought about the long winter ahead, I thought about what I store away for the winter.  You may have already guessed what I have stored away, it is books!  I guess you could call me a book hoarder.  I have books that I keep meaning to read and never seem to have the time to do that.  I have books that friends have recommended.  There are books that I found on Amazon for my kindle.  The Annual Friends of the Library Book Sale also added a few books to my coffers.  Between my kindle and the books I’ve been saving from friends and the sale, I have about twenty books waiting for my undivided attention!  And, that doesn’t count the ten books that I have on my reserved list through the MidYork Library System.


Are you a book hoarder too?  Come to the library…we can help you.  Instead of buying books, you can borrow them and then return them.  Me?  I am going to do away with my book hoarding obsession right after I finish reading my stockpile!