Hey there!

I have a complicated relationship with squirrels.

On the one hand, they're adorable. I love watching them frolic around my backyard even though—especially this time of year—they're frequently planting walnuts that I'll have to pull out of my garden come spring. Those bushy little tails, those cute little noses... They're kinda charming.

On the other hand, they really like to eat our lily and tulip bulbs. Which... no.

Can't have that.

Yesterday I was reading in the backyard when a squirrel scampered along the top of the fence, then began climbing head-first down a post with a walnut in its mouth. (Presumably to forget it so I can weed it out later. Thanks, bud.) It got me wondering two things.

1) Where the hell are the walnuts coming from? I've looked, but I can't find a walnut tree in our neighborhood.

2) Head-first? How can they even do that?

I mean, cats famously get stuck in trees because their claws are great for climbing up, but they have no grip for descending. I figured that squirrels probably had some better back claws, but I put my book down and looked it up anyway.

Turns out, the crazy thing is that squirrels actually can rotate their ankles 180 degrees. This provides them with that fantastic grip no matter which direction they're climbing.

Needless to say, this newfound fact has sparked a half-dozen alien-based and horror-based story ideas, which I need to go jot down.

And so I leave you, friend, with a question.

If you could rotate your ankle 180 degrees at will*, what would you do with your superpower?

(*like on purpose, not like horrifying accident.)

For Your TBR

Today, I’ve got a ice cool sample of a book for you to check out:

Frontier Justice by Michael Cardwell Danny Coogan, a new Montana Fish and Game Officer and Afghanistan veteran, hopes to bury his demons in a simple life in the wilderness around the small town of Darwin, Montana. But his life becomes a nightmare when he is shot and left injured and alone in the freezing countryside. His assailant? A local Native American, he had considered a friend, Edmund Goodrunner. Soon he finds himself thrust into an FBI investigation, juggling departmental rivalries, weapons dealers, tribal elders, and a man bent on revenge. But when innocents die, Danny must act, knowing he may be the key to unraveling the mysteries of the Dead Horse Indian Reservation. ​ Get My Copy!

Happy reading,

Jessie