Verna keeps some interesting artifacts in the Rock and Cactus Garden west of the house. She has a variety of items including statuary, bric-a-brac, rock piles, native dead wood and a few marbles placed here and there. There has been a mystery as to why some of the marbles get displaced from their assigned spots.
Well, today, I got this telephoto shot of a little jewel thief in action. It is a white-tailed antelope ground squirrel that lifted one of the marbles out of a depression in a decorative rock where Verna placed it some time ago. Evidently, the little guy thinks it is something that might be cracked open to eat, or, it likes shiny stuff.
It is still a mystery, since we went out later and found the marble laying on the ground nearby to the original placement. Verna replaced the marble in the crevice in the rock. How long it will remain there is unknown. Click on the image to enlarge.
