Even for a squirrel... a journey of a thousand miles...

Maybe you’ve heard the proverb...

...a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

Supposedly, the words of wisdom were spoken long ago by a fellow in China whose name was Lao Tzu. Or maybe Laozi. I can’t tell you for sure.

If what I discovered on the internet was true, and no doubt it is true, the proverb, in Chinese, goes something like Qianli zhi xing, shiyu zu xia, which, when translated, reads “A journey of a thousand li starts beneath’s one’s feet.” You can believe all of this, or not.

The idea that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step came to mind one afternoon last week.

Yours truly was heading back to my vehicle after shooting some pictures at a local photo opportunity.

I happened to spot a little squirrel which was wandering around, looking for goodies. A late afternoon snack perhaps.

The little bushytail discovered an orange peel. The critter picked up the peel, sniffed it, felt it and took a nibble or two. 

I haven’t munched on any orange peels lately, so I can’t recall how they taste. I’m guessing that they don’t taste quite as good as the fruit itself. Which could be why we don’t eat the peels. 

The squirrel proceeded to drop the peel and then headed away, walking along a sidewalk. A very long sidewalk. At least for a squirrel. 

That got me to thinking about a journey of a thousand miles for a squirrel. I’m guessing that a thousand miles would be a very, very, very long trip for those tiny feet.

A couple of other critters were on journeys when I spotted them recently while wandering through Union County.

Some barnyard gooses were wandering, in a straight line, across a rural road, not far from Cobden. 

When the fowls were about halfway across the road, a couple of them appeared to stop and take a bow. Maybe they just wanted to have a picture taken. So, I took their picture.

Another critter, this time a reptile of the snake variety, somehow made its way up the side of a metal building to a resting place on a window frame.

I can’t figure out how the snake got to where it got, yet there it was. 

So, there you have it. A squirrel, a goose and a snake go on a walk...

...I’ll let you figure out the punch line.