Nutty – The Nutty Squirrel

Nutty was a very busy squirrel. It was autumn and he was busy climbing the lush chestnut and oak trees gathering nuts for the winter.

He was really good at seeking out the juiciest chestnut and oak trees and reasonably good at climbing the trees to get to them. This had, however, not always been the case. You see, poor Nutty wasn’t your typical squirrel and climbing trees was a real challenge for him.

In fact, he was afraid of heights and for a long time all the other squirrels always got to the best nuts, before he had even started climbing the tree. Quite often he never got any higher than one meter above ground level before the tree had been cleared for nuts or acorns by his pals. Nutty wasn’t the jealous kind but he envied the others jumping from branch to branch as if there was no tomorrow. And he knew that without any stored nuts, he mightn’t survive the winter. Thankfully Nutty had some very good pals. They were very aware of his troubles and didn’t mind sharing their treasure with him. That had kept him going for a winter or two.

He had practised. And practised. For a long time, he had practised climbing the trees even when there were no nuts to be found and he was now quite good at it. He still didn’t like it and always took his time inspecting the trees for the easiest way before venturing up.

He was so happy that now was able to stock up for the winter all by himself. He also remembered his friends, that had been so kind to him during his troublesome times and shared his stash with any squirrel needing a bit of help.

Despite now being well practised in tree climbing, he still had a preferred way of gathering nuts. Very often the most athletic squirrels would be in such as rush to get up to the juiciest nuts first that they dropped some on the ground. 5 or 6 nuts would drop to the ground at Nutty’s feet for him to pick up and hide away for the cold days.

By the time the cold and dark winter days arrived Nutty had gathered and hidden so many nuts that he could relax in the knowledge that he had gathered enough to keep him going for the whole winter.

Nutty has, however, one more obstacle that not even he is aware off. He spent years learning and mastering the tree climb and has now reached an age where his memory often played tricks on him. He would often forget where he left his phone or his keys. Or he would walk into his kitchen and just stand there no longer remembering why he had walked in there. So although he has managed to gather and hide so many nuts for the winter, he can’t remember where he has hidden them.

Maybe you could help?