When Squirrels Were One of America's Most Popular Pets

[TlalocW]

63. Growing up in the 70s and 80s

I had a next-door neighbor who was an older gentleman. He had a black walnut tree in his yard, and before he mowed the yard he would use a scoop tool (a frozen orange juice can on the end of a broomstick) to scoop the nuts up and put them into a bag slung around his shoulder. He trained a squirrel to ride on his shoulder, and he would hand him a nut every now and then as he worked.

It was a small town so we ran him out of it for being a squirrel necromancer. J/K

After my mom retired, she started taming squirrels to the point that they would come in the house, just past the sliding door to the backyard. She would get down on the floor and give them nuts and pet them.

TlalocW