Shy Flyboy

 It is not often we get an unusual visitor at the Woodpile. This strange fellow showed up a few weeks ago. I asked around and it seems he bought a ski lodge condo at the Woodpile. When I talked to him, he seemed shy and had a bad case of “jet lag.” He said he was more of a night critter than a day critter. He claimed he "flew in from Hopkinton, Rhode Island" and he is a commercial glider pilot these days. I have heard some tall tales but this was a bit too “tall” even for me.

I bet most of you have no idea what type of critter this is. I must admit neither did I. So, I asked Mom and she looked it up in her Peterson guides … apparently he is a northern flying squirrel. My reaction was “a flying what???” I must have drank too many beers last night.

One of my super fans, Tom, lives in Hopkinton. I emailed him to ask if he knew this guy. This is what he had to say:

“YES!  That is “Packer”!  He used to play semi pro football up in Green Bay before he hurt his elbow trying to stuff 50 whole walnuts in his cheeks on some foolish macho bet. Keep him around for next year’s football game

 Yes, he can drain a feeder, but he will be sticking around with you and Mom, cause you have corn, and out in the MidWest, where Packer got his nickname, everyone is fueled by corn, even skinny Orville Redenbacher, and even the cars

 Long distance glides are his specialty. His extra ballast, and his rounded shape give him an aerodynamic boost, plus stability in cross wind gusts and air pockets. If you get real close, you can see where he has teeth with a gap, just like Vince Lombardi! He was reminiscing about playing on the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field, and once he wore his old football jersey. His number was 0.005, but the guys just called him Dot to save time. Soon enough, that was what the TV and Radio guys were calling him when doing play by play over the networks.”

I have to go, time to recruit Packer for the Woodpile football team.