This past Monday was the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur.  I take something different away from Yom Kippur every year; for example, when I was a teenager, my lesson was that it was a 5,000-year conspiracy to keep me from realizing my future career as the shiniest star of stage and screen (my high school held auditions for a stage play on Yom Kippur and, fortunately for the Grand Forks and theater communities, I didn’t think to ask if I could audition early or late…nor did I ever audition for another show at any other point in the past or future).  This year, we got to a line I’ve read many, many times before – “Help me to use my strength for good” – and was immediately reminded of a story about a squirrel that I had long since forgotten.  I am going to tell you that story now.

But first, let me tell you about my family’s…erm…ill-natured relationship with squirrels.  When I was growing up, we had a big, beautiful pine tree right next to our house.  This big, beautiful pine tree was home to scurries of squirrels – so many squirrels, in fact, that four of those squirrels felt the urge to get away from their squirrel brethren by climbing up to the top of the pine tree and jumping onto the roof of our house.  And then down our chimney.  And then into our living room.

This might shock you, but the Silverman Family did not want wild squirrels running around our house.  In spite of the fact that they initially came willingly down the chimney – like dads at a Disney Character Breakfast, it turned out those squirrels wanted out.  This meant that three of the squirrels got to participate in an extensive game of cat-and-mouse (or squirrel-and-human, I suppose) until they were caught and returned from whence they came.

The fourth squirrel (which was actually the second squirrel) made him or herself at home for an unknown period of time prior to discovery.  This discovery was in the middle of the night, when my mother awoke, went into the master bathroom, and lifted the toilet lid to find a squirrel out – or in, as it were – for an evening swim.

My family has recounted the Tale of the Toilet Squirrel roughly a gazillion times since that fateful eve, and every audience has had a variation of the same response: “Gee-ross.”  This is because humans, generally, do not care for squirrels.  Squirrels are rodents, and we don’t like rodents.  Squirrels eat bird seed, and we don’t like feeding animals that are not pictured on the packages of the wildlife food we purchase.  Squirrels have a habit of running across the road, and we don’t like it when living beings keep us from avoiding hitting things with our cars.  Also, they swim in our toilets, and toilets are not zoned for swimming.

Kyle grew up on a farm and has a farmer-esque approach when it comes to wildlife, which is…well, as an example, the village in which he grew up paid $0.25 a head for gophers because cattle were stepping in their holes and breaking their legs and Kyle made more than $0 under that program.  So, when I told him the toilet story, his response was something akin to, “What’d you do after that, go Rambo on the tree?” (No.)

Nearly twenty years after the first squirrel hopped onto our goldenrod living room carpet, I found myself toodling down a friendly neighborhood street with my husband in the driver’s seat.  I can’t remember what we were doing, but I’m guessing I was telling him something VERY IMPORTANT and he was listening with his FULL ATTENTION, as husbands are wont to do.  Suddenly, he swung the car around and parked quickly and haphazardly along the curb.

He was out the door before I had a chance to react.

I rolled down on the window.  “What on earth?”  I asked.

“Something just…” he said, searching the ground – and then, “Oh, right here.”

He reached down into the grass and gently lifted up a kit – otherwise known as a baby squirrel.

“My gosh, don’t touch that,”  I said.

“The wind blew it out,” he ignored me and looked the squirrel over.  “I think it’s okay, though.”

“You’re not supposed to pick up baby animals,” I repeated.  “Their moms won’t care for them.”

“That’s not true,” Kyle said.  “Besides, it’ll get eaten if I leave it on the ground.”

He found a nook on the tree and set the kit into it.  He wiped his hands on his pants (gee-ross) and got back into the car.

“What made you do that?”  I asked as we drove away.

“I don’t know,” Kyle admitted.  “ I guess it seemed like a good thing to do.”

I’m not sure why that baby squirrel story came to mind this week.  Obviously, that one act of kindness – if that’s what it was; we didn’t get a thank you letter from the squirrel population so the jury is still out – didn’t build any obvious bridges between the humans and rodents.  Based on the quantity of spider, fly, and wasp carcasses around our yard, Kyle is not exactly the modern-day Cinderfella to our neighborhood fauna.  Maybe the reason is to remind me that it took less than three minutes to do something more than zero for someone without any direct benefit to the person doing it.  Or maybe it’s to remind me to check the toilet before I sit down.  Either way, lesson learned.

I don’t have any photos of Kyle with a baby squirrel, so instead here is a photo of Kyle with his own two little kits.

I wasn’t on North Dakota Today this week because of Yom Kippur, but last week we talked about geocaching and pizza.  Check it out!  (Valley News Live)

WELL, this might be my favorite story of the year.  In North Dakota-adjacent news, East Grand Forks’ Maggie Kuznia goes door to door at the Good Samaritan Society Heritage Grove Senior Living Center to find buddies with whom to read. (Valley News)

Wahpeton’s Ray Ruschel, best-known as one of college football’s oldest players, has temporarily hung up his cleats in order to return to active duty. (KFGO)

This is a sweet story of the importance of friendship and a “second dad.” (KFYR TV)

Lace up your sneakers: North Dakota is #1 when it comes to physically active children. (AAA State of Play)

Lace up your lederhosen: Valley Senior Living’s 3rd annual Oktoberfest is TOMORROW in Grand Forks. (Grand Forks Herald)

Speaking of tomorrow, Hazen’s Tigirlily Gold are singing the national anthem when the Packers face the Lions. (KFYR TV)

Buxton’s Tom Askjem is YouTube Famous for finding buried treasure around the state. (Dickinson Press)

Keep your eyes peeled for whooping cranes – and if you see one, report it to US Fish and Wildlife Service. (Facebook)

Wellllll…I don’t know if this is nice, per se, but well-done to whoever put together what might possibly North Dakota’s longest documented practical joke. (Williston Herald)

As a reminder, I’ll be appearing on North Dakota Today on Monday mornings. Tune in, and send me the people and stories that are nice.  Thank you in advance!

ALSO as a reminder, Kyle now has a North Dakota hockey podcast on Pulltab Sports. It’s called “North Dakota After Dark” and he hosts it with our friends Kelly and Corey. Episode 9 with Jonathan Holth is now up. Click here to listen.