Grandfather and the squirrel

As you must know, I go visit my Mom and a lot of times she shares stories about her youth with me. I can sit and listen for hours. The other day, I went over to visit and we were sitting at the table. Mom was knitting a pair of booties for a new great grandaughter that will soon come into this world. And we were talking about when she was young. She told me her father used to hang his pork high in his shed to keep it from the animals and also so it wouldn't go bad. This paticular time, he hung a side of Ham and there was this little squirrel who kept climbing to the Ham to try and get some. One day my grandfather threw a blanket over the squirrel that was the only way he could catch him and put him in a cage he had made. Inside the cage Grandfather made a little wheel so the squirrel could run. Mom said when that squirrel began to run, he ran so fast that all you could see was a white belly. Anyway Mom said ,she and her siblings loved that little squirrel. One day grandfather said to them, "we have had him long enough, now he belongs in the wild, we have to let him go". Mom said they were devastated over losing their pet squirrel. So grandfather opened the door to the cage, and out ran the squirrel. They thought that would be the last time they seen the squirrel. But it wasn't so, because that squirrel stayed around the house. My grandfather had built a ledge outside of the window, so grandmother could put her cooking there to cool. Mom said that everytime Grandmother would put her fresh cooked doughnuts on that ledge the little squirrel would jump on the ledge , grab the whole doughnut and run for the trees. I said to Mom, I guess Grandfather loved animals huh? She said yes he did, he even once caught an otter, kept him for a while then set him free.
Then I was still asking Mom questions. This time I said "Mom what did Grandfather call Grandmother? Mom replied he called her Mom and she called him Dad. Mom continued, she said at night time, it wasnt play time for us kids, we used to all sit around the table and do our homework,she continued and Dad really believed in education. I enjoyed our chat very much.
My grandfather had a white and black dog, and he used to train the dog, I have a photo of him with the dog sitting pretty on a wooden box. I met a new cousin about two years ago, and we started getting to know each other and exchanging photos. She sent me a photo and said do you know this couple? Well I looked at the photo, it was a couple with a white and black dog. When I saw it, I recognized the dog first of all and I sent her the photo of grandfather with the dog, it was the same dog and the couple on the photo were our great grandparents. What a nice surprise that was. Now is the time to share our photos, while we can identify the people. I am still on the lookup for photos of my relatives, the more I get the happier I am.
Thanks for stopping by , I do hope you enjoyed todays blog.
Have a great day
Aline