Alien Encounter...

It's not very often that I see a creature that I've never seen before.

And even less often that it's standing on my front porch.

Yesterday, I went to close the inside front door and there was this thing standing on my porch, nibbling my pansies. It was bright yellow with stripes and spots and I couldn't help but think that it looked like some odd combination of salamander and squirrel. 

 

It had such a distinctive, graphic pattern on its back--- yellow stripes with polka dots!

 It turns out that it was/is a Thirteen Stripe Ground Squirrel. They don't really thrive around here, but are prominent in the Dakotas.

He's really quite cute---

Once I realized that he wasn't a mutant, alien, deranged, newt-rodent!