BebeSnout:
Where Thinking Happens
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Most people look at squirrels and think they are unintelligent. This is most likely because they have such small heads and beady eyes. Or, at least, that is the prevalent thinking. However, my relationship with BebeSnout made me re-evaluate this belief. One day, BebeSnout got it in that supposedly small mind of hers to come live with my husband and me. Being a shrewd business-squirrel (my first inkling that squirrels are anything BUT stupid), she sat back and allowed my husband and me to do the difficult things involved in any real estate transaction: Looking, Bidding, Inspecting, Signing Papers, etc. etc. BebeSnout is an excellent delegator. On move-in day (hers, not ours), Bebe held a BYONM (Bring Your Own Nesting Materials) Party. Not an outwardly gregarious person, BebeSnout recognized a good networking opportunity when she saw one. The rest, as they say, is history. BebeSnout and her friends had the run of the eaves. They tried to keep the noise down at night, but thoughtful squirrels, like thoughtful people, often suffer from insomnia, and it seems that Bebe and her friends dealt with that unfortunate condition by exercising. They were also inclined to engage in heated political debates 'til the wee hours of the morning. Beyond all that, our house was becoming holier than Pat Robertson at a Planned Parenthood rally. You see, squirrels, though brilliant, are surprisingly ignorant of human construction principles. They don't seem to understand that if one continually chews holes into wooden planks and gutters, one causes leaks. The time had come to ask our active friends to leave. Okay, maybe not ask--force. After the Squirrel Guy had come and gone, Bebe and her friends returned from one of their Acorn Alliance meetings to find their front door missing. BebeSnout was indignant! She yelled at me through the window, invoking her right to freely chew through any yielding material in order to gainsay better living conditions for herself and her "peeps." Her argument, even chattered through three panes of glass, was compelling. What could I say? I was stunned by BebeSnout's considerable reasoning skills. But in the end it comes down to the fact that I am bigger than she is and have more economic resources at my disposal. (Which is why Bebe is a democratic socialist and I am merely a confused capitalist with liberal leanings.) It took BebeSnout a long time to forgive my show of brute force. Mostly, she was unhappy with the intellectual dishonesty of it all. However, BebeSnout is highly adaptive; she soon gathered her troops and moved into a nearby tree, which actually suited her recent Back to Nature polemics. Not being quite so adaptive, I found it difficult to forget my hairy, shrill friend. BebeSnout's courage in defending her thoughts and beliefs--however rabid--made me remember the importance of self-expression. It also reminded me that some people (and other animals) don't have the opportunity to say what they think. Or, at least they don't believe they do. I, on the other hand, have a nice laptop, the Internet, and no problem telling it like (I think) it is. "What would Bebe do if she had all this going for her, not to mention opposable thumbs?" I asked myself. "Create a web site or two!" myself answered back. So, because I have found myself at a point in my life where I have lots of opinions I think rather interesting, that is exactly what I have done. This web site is dedicated to BebeSnout--and other unsung creatures--who haven't yet learned to use FrontPage and so are relegated to chattering from trees and similarly inconvenient places.
The End
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