Squirrels don’t live long enough to be good pets for older people. My parents adopted an outside squirrel who they named “Buster”. They would put peanuts out on their stoop and Buster would come up on it and have the snack. If they were later putting out the peanuts, he’d knock on the door.

We have a giant southern magnolia in our front yard where wildlife like to congregate. One day I saw a squirrel come toward the porch and he didn’t see me at first. He started to run away and I said “Wait little squirrel, I’ll bring you an apple.” And, he waited. I put the apple between us and he moved forward and grabbed it up. That was when I learned that animals (and people) don’t need words to communicate.