Mabel and the War of 1812

This is Mabel. She's one of our newer squirrels, born last year. She's become friendly and more trusting. Linda feeds it from her hand. I am not as fortunate, yet. She reminds me of my old chum Snort who is likely a grandsquirrel to Mabel.

In any case, in the distant past, some of their ancestors or, certainly, their cousins witnessed The Sacking of York (now Toronto) by Americans 200 years ago yesterday (April 27, 1813). They burned down stuff, sacked the library and pillaged much. Eventually, our side (the British, supported by Canadian folk, First Nations peoples, Laura Secord, and others got their payback and) won (more or less) the War by 1814 which included the burning of The White House. Yes, THAT White House. We've kissed and made up since then (again, more or less). The squirrels, they carry on with business as usual: foraging and looking cute.