…I must digress for a moment to point out that a squirrel has just checked me out rather closely. It bounded to the fat lodgepole next to the rock on which I'm sitting where I have a nice view of the lake, the sky and the setting sun on the opposite ridge. It then proceeded to make noises at me, timing each excited chirp with a near total spastic move of his body. The little guy was bursting with so much tension and excitability that I thought he might pop. Little jerky movements down the tree, each one accompanied by an enthusiastic chirm and a head tilt so damned amusing it took all my control to keep from chasing it away with a burst of laughter. Two or three times he got so excited he raced around to the other side of the tree in a mad scramble and an out-of-control outburst. Only to reappear again a moment later. Finally, either satisfied that I was inedible or convinced I was a fuzzy-headed squirrel stomper, he beat it to the high branches, leaping from one tree to the next until he was gone…