The ravine squirrels, red, black and grey, have long been accustomed to finding peanuts left in cache places along our daily ravine rambles, taking various trails dependent on the time we have and the inclination to take long loops or shorter ones.  The deposits are always in the same places; notches in tree trunks, tree crotches, woodpecker holes, atop the bridge rails.

Often squirrels will be patiently awaiting our arrival.  Often enough we will see them scurrying forth in anticipation of taking advantage of the daily offerings.  And, increasingly now, grey or black squirrels will race directly toward us, stopping just short of our boot-shod feet to wave their tails in expectation of rewards.  And the rewards are always forthcoming.

The black and the greys and the fearless chipmunks whom we see only in early spring and late fall, don't seem to hesitate to place themselves before us, even with the presence of little Riley who mostly ignores them, just occasionally making a half-hearted run at them.  They simply move swiftly away from him, returning immediately to their previous position, if the peanuts haven't yet been made available to them.

 The red squirrels, infinitely quicker, never come close, never seem alert to peanuts tossed in their direction as the greys and blacks are; they panic and disappear.  Obviously their sense of self-preservation is far more acute than that of their woodland peers.

We've lately wondered where Stumpy is, the little black tail-less squirrel that we've been feeding for years.  He is the first of the ravine squirrels to have directly approached us demanding his due for encroaching on his territory.  And he remains the only squirrel that will take a peanut, retreat a short distance, make short work of it and return to us for another, and yet another.  We haven't seen him in a few weeks' time, although we have seen his counterpart whom we've named Stumpette.

Brief absences like this are not uncommon.  We hope that nothing untoward has overtaken him.  The owls that nested here in the spring and summer appear to have absented themselves over the past month or so, and the hawks also are elsewhere.