Notchy, the Grey Squirrel

Notchy was my friend- she was a grey squirrel that lived near my house and over the few months during lockdown we developed a lasting friendship - it all started as curiosity, she would come to my window and hang out on the screen watching as I worked from home. Eventually I started feeding her (despite what I read online) leaving food, nuts mostly, in a bowl outside the window- I would sit quietly nearby and watch her eat. Slowly by slowly, over a span of days/weeks, I would close the distance becoming more familiar to her and earning her trust until she was finally brave enough to eat from my hand. After a while, she trusted me enough to even allow me to pet her while she had her snack- It was magical! She visited me almost every day for months! Seasons! - sometimes she’d sit on my knee and eat walnuts- or peanut butter bombs (two walnut halves stuck together with PB, man she loved those!) - or sometimes half an avocado, which was her all-time favorite! Notchy became a member of the family, bonding with my wife and both sons - we would all feed and pet her, she would even hang out in the house sometimes, and explore our world, (I always left the door open a crack so she could come and go as she pleased while I was working in the sunroom) she was so curious! She would climb up my shirt and sit on my shoulder or leap onto me from the perch I built her on my stoop railing. We had so many great times together… Ah, and I miss her. So that’s why I built her out of Lego, to honor her and remember my special friend, Notchy, (As depicted in the build, I gave her the name because of the signature notch in her ear…)

Regarding the build, Notchy is made out of pieces I had lying around, meaning much of the design was directed (not necessarily limited to, but guided by for sure) the pieces at hand. She has arms that go up and down, hands on ball joints for plenty of posing possibility (posability isn’t a word? It should be…), the tip of her tail goes up and down for even more expression and finally her head swivels to make for lots of character (just like the real Notchy!). Aside from 4 pink buttons on the inside of her hands and her black claws, eyes and nose, she is entirely light grey and white. There is a single 2x1 plate on the bottom to make the whole piece lean slightly forward to counterbalance her heavy tail. The tail is integrated into the body in 3 places and the whole build is very solid. Quite coincidentally, the build is practically life size. Happy accident! Thanks for reading! :)