Stuffed Squirrel Makes News in London,
England
The tale of the now famous stuffed squirrel begins with Pat
George visiting her cousin this past summer.
Pat came upon a stuffed squirrel among her cousin’s possessions. To her surprise, the squirrel, upon seeing
Pat, raised his hand – motioning Pat closer.
With a cupped hand over Pat’s ear, the squirrel whispered a secret plan
that he had been formulating for some time (OH, you didn’t realize squirrels
could talk?). As a thank you for the
wonderful care Pat’s cousin had given him, the squirrel envisioned a special
surprise for her. With Pat’s help, he
would embark on a summer vacation.
Naturally, Pat would document the squirrel’s summer travels with
photographs, and at the end of the summer adventure, they would present her
cousin with the Squirrel’s Adventure Album – and all would have a good laugh.
So, unbeknownst to her cousin, Pat ferreted away the little animal and began to
implement the secret plan. Little did they
realize how far reaching this squirrelly adventure would become?
In the midst of the squirrel’s travels they arrived at the
Onondaga Ski Club Lodge for some adventure in central Vermont. One such outing led them to the famous Ben
and Jerry’s ice cream plant where, of course, they had to sample the
product. After finishing a cool
refreshing cone of the famous ice cream, they found a perfect location for the
photograph that would record their visit.
Just to the right of the ice cream counter stood a large painted
circular board designed for visitors to take photographs. The squirrel, having placed his head in one of
the holes and Pat in the other, asked a visitor to take their photograph. After doing a double take at a talking
squirrel, the fellow vacationer obliged – focusing the camera as the squirrel
and Pat smilingly peered from the openings. While looking out at the flashing
camera, however, the squirrel and Pat saw a couple of other individuals with
professional looking cameras also taking the same picture.
With their curiosity peeked, they approached the two individuals
and started a conversation. After all, their picture had been taken by
strangers, and they wondered why. As
the conversation unfolded, the strangers English accent made it clear that they
were not from Vermont, and the excitement on their faces, at meeting a talking
squirrel, signaled a deeper plot behind their picture taking.
It turns out the two English gentlemen were visiting the Ben
and Jerry’s factory at the request of a company from London England. The company
had purchased Ben and Jerry’s and hired them to capture the culture and story
of this small successful company. They were then to write an article in the
London Times to that effect.
You guessed it, the squirrel and Pat ended up in the London
Times, and the photo album had transcended all of the squirrel’s dreams about
surprising Pat’s cousin. To complete the secret photo album, Pat called upon
her friend, who lives in London, to secure copies of the London Times. With the
coveted Times article, and with pictures in hand, the squirrel had a real
surprise for Pat’s cousin.
The story does not quite end there. On the 4th of July weekend, Pat
returned to the OSC Lodge in Vermont (without the squirrel this time) along
with 14 other individuals to partake in more shared adventures. While some of us were playing golf, and
others were biking, or hiking, Pat was off to Ben and Jerry’s with her London
Times article in hand. Upon finding the
manager of Ben and Jerry’s, she told him the squirrel story and asked if he
might like to contribute some of their famous ice cream to our Lodge in
Vermont. Upon his realization that he
had missed meeting the famous squirrel, the manager said he would be glad to do
so. And thus, after a shared dinner that night at the Lodge, Pat surprised us
all by presenting us with a 60 pack of Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream for
desert.
Thus, all of us who spent the 4th of July weekend
at the Lodge this year, have to thank Pat and her scheming little partner for
the delicious treat we all enjoyed.
Thanks to both of you. It was a
real squirrelly good time.
Marvin Patnode
