Reader Jeffrey Hatley sent me this note about his dearth of live squirrels, and his affection for them, which has promoted a kind of squirrel fanaticism (I can understand this well because I had hundred of penguin effigies when I was a youth):
Dear Professor Ceiling Cat,
As a long-time reader of your website, as well as a squirrel fanatic, I have been delighted in the past few months to find so many squirrel pictures and squirrel-related posts. I am infinitely jealous of you for having squirrels right outside of your office window!
As a grad student with a closet-sized office and no window, I’ve done the next best thing: filled my office with squirrel simulacra. Today I counted 21 (visible) squirrels in my office, and this number is always growing. I’ve included a few pictures which you might enjoy. Note especially the squirrel candy dispenser (recently emptied), the squirrel book-ends, and the cast iron squirrel nutcracker. The framed squirrel is a gift from my girlfriend; she constructed it out of beans and lentils.
His office:
Have a look at the swell bean-and-lentil squirrel picture in the third photograph, made by Jeff’s girlfriend. I immediately advised him to propose to her. It’s a rare woman who cares enough about you to cater to your squirrel fetish in this way.
Now I know that many of you have such fetishes. I’ve confessed to penguins—not an uncommon one—but I’ve also heard of people collecting effigies of hippos, giraffes, elephants, and of course cats. Fess up below.
I recently mentioned my old girlfriend Barbara (Bunny). She had a twin sister Katherine (Kitty). Their mother collected owl figurines of all sorts – I remember a count of something like 272 in the house. Occurs to me just now – maybe there was some sort of subliminal aspect to that, re. who was in charge?
I’m a Wol-ist too. ‘When Ah Were A Lad,’ as they say in the Four Yorkshiremen sketch, my older sisters decided that I was probably quite bright, even though my spelling was poor. So they re-named me from “Regular Mine Of Useless Information” to, obviously, “Wol”.
Attack being the best form of defence, particularly when outnumbered by larger enemies, I took the name as my own.
Looking around the living room here, I see 15 owls (one fetchingly dangling a mouse door-wedge from it’s beak), another two in the garden (the wife doesn’t want the neighbours to know of my perversions. Well, not that one anyway), and there are around the same in my den upstairs.
When thinking of Wol though, don’t think of the Disney version of Winnie the Pooh ; think of the (copyright-busting) Russian version, “Винни-Пух” transliterated as Vinni Pukh. Unfortunately, I’ve not managed to find squeezy plastic models of Caba (“Wol”), though I do have Vinni and Petachuk (‘Piglet’) sitting on the bed.
There are various giant microbes and a couple of Tux (Linux penguins) around the house too. Several non-avian dinosaurs carved out of plywood sheets too.
Oh, there’s a 16th owl on the watch on the shelf. And another 20 in the kitchen/ dining room.
I’m going to update my avatar!
Dinos, what else? I’m still fascinated with them, and find more modern takes on them to be vastly more interesting than what we grew up with.
Goats.
No big surprise there. L
Since you mention penguins, I must confess to a couple, probably for a different reason. Nothing to do with Happy Feet (which is wannabe cute but I just found annoyingly anthropomorphic) but definitely related to the fact that I use Linux. I don’t know of anybody who collects windows… 😉
Squirrel calls makes police blotter
Elephants. I love elephants – my grandmother had a great elephant collection which was unfortunately destroyed in a house fire. As we were sifting through the ashes, I found one intact elephant and that one became the start of my elephant fetish. My fire ravaged elephant is discolored by heat & flames, but in one piece. I can’t imagine what it is made of that it survived! I have a sideline collection of kitties – live ones (6) and assorted figurines.
Dolphins. From ~ 8 years to 12.
Oops, seems I got one much later, for extra cuddles. A cat substitute, no doubt. [Looks over at couch, where it ‘surfaces’ from behind the back support.]
I don’t collect statues of any particular animal, but I confess to gathering feathers. I come across them along sidewalks, marking trails, scattered on lawns, caught in the branches of trees or bushes. Usually they are unremarkable, from the common birds: sparrows, juncos, blue jays, crows, Canada Geese. Sometimes they are more unusual treasures, like the yellow undertail feather of a flicker that I found while out in the woods with students one day. And while it’s undeniably satisfying to come across feathers from birds I’ve only rarely seen, the frequency with which I find feathers, their very ubiquitousness, is what really comforts me. They remind me, daily and yet unexpectedly, of the many with whom we share the world.
I used to collect horses….now, my office has a lot of dinosaur stuff
Frogs. Especially ever since I was in charge of the Xenopus tank when I was an undergrad.
Frogs, obviously
I collect Baihus. I have the whole set!
b&
As a child I collected stuffed toy lions. In recent years I’ve made a lot of cat-related art, including wall hangings, metal and fabric masks, drawings, and this lion:
http://www.mineralarts.com/artwork/greenliontoy.jpg
The latest project – a tiger coat:
http://www.mineralarts.com/artwork/shopcoat.html
For several years I’ve wanted to design a fabric cat doll pattern with a head that is realistic from every angle, to be made from ordinary cotton cloth (not plush toy fur). I’m close but it’s not perfect yet.
Wombats.
Skulls and seashells. Oh, and fossils.
Got two hedgehogs and a gargoyle statue, all three given to me as gifts. Probably not enough of a menagerie to count as a ‘fetish,’ but there it is.
I collect decorative human skulls, As a neuroscience student, I enjoy collecting the house of our amazing brain. 🙂
Tortoises. Little giants, that is 🙂
Pigs. It started with a clay piggy bank my sister made for me when I was eight-ish. She forgot to make the penny slot so there was never the temptation to break it. Still have it, almost 50 years later.
Some people are just nuts about squirrels.
I don’t collect anything (other than maths, physics, and computer books) but my brother collects pigs.
Were I to so indulge, it would be black standard poodles.
I collect Breyer horses. Have over 500 of which, there are Hartlands as well. Also, have a pretty nice shell collection, but no place to put it. Oh, almost forgot, Lionel trains, of which I have no place to run them, until I can find a place for all the stuff in boxes that belong to a fellow we are taking care of right now.
I used to collect Breyer horses when I was young. My sister still brings up the fact that I would let her play with them upon occasion, but with explicit instructions that their hooves CANNOT touch the floor (I didn’t want them getting damaged, you see). And I would spy on her to make sure she was following my rules. 🙂
Rats. They are my favourite animal, and I collect little figurines, art, and whatever else I come across that’s cool and not overly cute. I also have a smaller collection of things that feature crows and rabbits- lots of animals. Oh, and fossilized shark teeth.