January 31st, 2017

  This cute little guy was waiting for us when we left the house the other morning.  Unafraid, he just sat on top of the courtyard wall, watching us.  Tim chirruped at him and the squirrel wagged his tail.  Curious at the reaction,  Tim chirruped again, the squirrel wagged his tail again. They repeated this little song and dance several times so it was clear that  there was a definite correlation.  Of course I have no idea what either one of them "said"  but it was still fascinating to watch.   This sort of thing happens on a regular basis.

Tim also returns bird calls.  Usually, the birds sing back to him after a pause, as if he was singing in a slightly different dialect or perhaps with an accent a little unfamiliar.  Sort of like when a Yankee visits the deep south.  It sometimes takes a minute to figure out that when people are saying, "Hah" it actually means "Hi".  Regardless, the birds are definitely responding to his whistle.   I'm impressed by his ability to talk to critters of all sorts.  I've seen him do the same with cats and dogs.

While I am a fan of all sorts of creatures, and most of them seem to like me fine, I'm afraid that I cannot do the same. Oh I can whistle just fine, but I cannot seem to make a bird  want to whistle back.  I certainly can make a "meow" sound to a cat but they just give me a look that says, "Isn't that cute, pathetic but cute".  The closest I ever came to having an animal respond to a sound that I make was when I was a kid practicing my violin.  The dogs just howled and howled.  Could give a kid a complex!  Well and of course, every dog respond to the sound of a can opener, but I'm not sure that counts.

Actually when we were kids, my sister and I had a cat that would sing with us.  HIs name was Posh and his favourite song was, "In the Good old Summertime".  And his favourite word in that song was, "Summertime".  When we sang that song, we would pause just before that word, and he would supply the "summertime".   So the song was actually, "In the good old, Mmmmeeeoooowww".  Very funny, and unusual, but not really a Dr. Doolittle kind of thing.

Babies respond well to Tim too.  They are immediately relaxed and happy, cooing and smiling in his arms. The crankiest, most unhappy baby immediately turns into the sunshine kid once he has hold of it.  What a wonderful ability.  We once babysat a very unhappy little guy.  I, an experienced mom who loves children, could not get him to stop crying. I tried every trick in my arsenal and finally gave up, handing him over to Tim after hours of being deafened, listening to the child howl in frustration that I did not understand what he wanted.  Hand off to Tim and  immediate silence.  I was both relieved and a little jealous. 

When we lived in Colorado, before we bought window well covers , we had a plague of fallen bunnies.   The basement, being below grade, but still needing natural light means the builder dug out around the windows and placed in these very strong, metal semi-circles around said windows. They are called, window wells.  Zooming bunnies hop madly along, apparently with poor directional control, and fall into the window wells unable to get back out.  I had to do daily bunny checks.  If I tried to rescue the bunnies, they would freak out.  If Tim reached for them, they would immediately relax.  He was able to gently capture them and put them back outside where, after a moment to realized that they were free, they would careen off into the open space behind us.  I believe that he was a Bunny Hero and that bunnies sang Epic Songs about him and told stories of the giant who saved them.

Shortly after we moved here, we were at the jetty one day and saw a fisherman trying to help a pelican who somehow got tangled up in fishingline.  The bird was straining to free itself and because it was terrified, it was literally fighting the man who was trying to help him.   Without a moment's hesitation, Tim  climbed down the rocks, the bird relaxed and together the two men were able to set it free.  It's amazing to watch.  I do not remotely understand how he does it, but I'm wowed by it all the same. 

So there you have it, the tale of the superhero of the animal world.  How could I not love a man who is so trusted by children and animals? Put a cape on this guy!