Squirrel Trapping

I don't know why but this morning I got hit by a memory from my very young childhood. It's a happy memory, but it's kinda weird too. My Dad used to trap squirrels in the backyard. Live traps. And then he would take me to High Park to release them. I guess he really didn't want sqirrels in his yard. But it was always a fun excursion. High Park borders on downtown Toronto. I actually haven't been there in many, many years. It used to have ponds all over the place, with swans and ducks. It had playgrounds. It had a zoo! And it had a restaurant. It's a large park. My memories are kind of vague. I wonder if the zoo is still there. The only animals I really remember being there were buffalo and bison. I'm sure there were others. I don't know how often we did this. It seems like it was just a few times. My parents had a vegetable garden and fruit trees, I guess they didn't want the squirrels eating it all.

The funny thing is, where I live now there are no squirrels. I've seen a couple of chipmunks and lots of rabbits but no squirrels. I live far away from where I grew up and from High Park. I see more skunks than squirrels.

But those days in the park with my Daddy were fun. I seem to recall slides that came down the side of a hill and loving sliding down them. I just wonder if it's all still there. It's a little far to go from here just to check it out, but maybe some day when we're looking for somewhere to drive to. I wonder what ever happened to my Dads squirrel traps. I wonder if he was ever successful at keeping them out of his yard.

What a funny memory to have first thing in the morning. It's so vague, it was so long ago...