Your Sunday Squirrel

I went to Denny Park quite a bit this week, but all I got was two shots.  This is one of them.  It's not bad.  The problem is that a lot of the squirrels are younger and they don't know what a peanut is.  It seems really interesting when it's in my hand, but once it's in front of them, they give it a sniff and move on.  They don't recognize it as food.  Of course, when they're a bit older, they do, but that's something that doesn't activate until later.  Younger squirrels spend a lot of time digging.  They're almost preoccupied with it, because even when you come up slowly to them, they'll ignore you till they suddenly freak out and run up some tree.  This guy here was actually part of a pair.  The other guy is off camera.  About five seconds later, he ran in and tried to steal this fellow's peanut.  Never mind that I was waving another peanut around.  I guess stolen peanuts taste better.

Your Sunday Squirrel

And the standing still award goes to..!

...this squirrel!  Three different pictures of the same guy!  Just so you know, my camera does not take pictures fast.  It's kind of like: focus, focus, focus, snap; wait, wait, wait, ready again, sort of.  So there's a lot of time between shots.  Eventually, he did run off, but I'm so not used to squirrels holding still for such a long time.  

It's Here, It's Done

Coming soon to a college radio station near you - this album!  I got the CDs from the manufacturer this week.  Since I have to send 300 copies to stations, I spent a big chunk of the weekend putting discs in mailers and slapping on labels and stamps.  In case you're interested, postage for 300 CDs to the US (with a few going to Canada) is around $700.  Taylor Swift makes that in, like, a minute and a half, but for me, that's real money.  That figure drives home all the more that this is my most expensive album.  I can't say exactly how much, but the very real prospect that I'll get back nothing from this effort is truly depressing.  I mean, it's a really good album.  It's got 49 tracks, so you're bound to like something in there.  It hasn't quite been released on CD Baby; that's a few weeks away, but I do have quite a good feeling about it - as I did for all the others.  I don't expect KEXP to play anything on it.  That's fine, because this album features a real boss tune about blowing them up.  There's a lot of yelling, "Kaboom!" and such.  Fun!

Anyhow, when the great day of release arrives, I'll post a link.  You don't have to buy anything; just preview the damn thing.  It's good.  I wouldn't lie to you about that.

Your Sunday Squirrel

I was just walking along 4th Ave. earlier in the week when I saw this fellow.  This is out in front of an apartment building between Wall & Vine.  One of the building management people was feeding him peanuts.  He seemed quite at ease (for a squirrel) and not freaked out by anything.  The management lady said that he spends most of his time hanging out in the tree right by the front door.  I hope that he's evolved a sense of traffic flow.  Otherwise, he won't be too long for this neighborhood.  But as long as there are nice people handing him peanuts, he won't have any need to wander into traffic.  Anyhow, welcome to Belltown, 4th Avenue Squirrel!

Your Sunday Squirrel

There were lots of squirrels at Denny Park yesterday.  They all seemed to be going somewhere, so they paid little attention to me.  This fellow stood still for just this microsecond and then zipped away to bury his peanut.  He did the classic piece of squirrel deception by digging several holes and then covering them over before burying the peanut for real.  There was another squirrel in the neighborhood, so he was taking no chances.  Meanwhile, the other squirrel was totally not interested in anything.  I have no idea what his deal was.  Anyhow, squirrels were running around everywhere, but few wanted what I was giving away.

New Place!

OK, I generally don't notice things, but I'm pretty sure this place just recently opened.  It's at 1st & Battery in a space that's been vacant for several years.  The past occupants have been pretty classy operations, but, judging from the cartoon logo, this appears to be quite a bit down-market.  That's not a bad thing at all.  It might not be Shiro's - that's around the corner - but it looks like it's worth a try.