BIT STUFFY, BUT HE SURE GETS AROUND
by Jean Godden, _Seattle Times_ staff columnist

Michael [i.e. Michel] Jolivet, a Burien veterinarian, is a well-traveled
fellow. But he isn't nearly as footloose as his mascot, Mr. Squirrel.
The squirrel is a modern-day Marco Polo.

The squirrel came into Jolivet's life in the early 1980s as a patient.
Alas, Dr. Jolivet (pronounced ZHO-lee-vey and not jolly vet, even
though that would be more appropriate) was unable to save the
wounded creature.

But the vet decided the squirrel was a good candidate for taxidermy.
Jolivet stuffed him, named him Mr.Squirrel and installed him in a
perch of honor in his Des Moines home.

Mr. Squirrel sat undisturbed for years. Then, sometime in 1993, the
squirrel vanished. Jolivet, distracted by the breakup of his marriage,
doesn't know when.

But he does recall that it was December 1993 when he stumbled on a
shoebox-sized package on his doorstep. He opened the box and --
surprise, there was Mr. Squirrel, wrapped in copies of the Eugene
Register-Guard.

The squirrel had acquired a red-and-white hobo knapsack and a photo
album with 60 snapshots of his travels. The pictures show Mr. Squirrel
all over the United States and Europe.

Here's the gallivanting squirrel at the Grand Canyon. There he is at
London's Buckingham Palace. He's been to the Coliseum in Rome, the
Golden Gate Bridge, the House of the Seven Gables and the British
Museum.

Who arranged this elaborate prank? And how was it managed? Can you
imagine the hassle of getting a stuffed squirrel through customs? Jolivet
has no clue. He has quizzed his ex-wife and friends. They say,
"Not me."

And the fun continues. Shortly after returning home, Mr. Squirrel
started receiving "wish you were here" postcards from Germany addressed
to "Rocky Squirrel."

When Dr. Jolivet married Sara Lundgren recently, someone -- one of the
guests perhaps? -- painted squirrel footprints across a card mounted on
an easel at the wedding.

>From _The Seattle Times_, Sunday, August 27, 1995.

I can't put my finger on it, but I swear I saw that squirrel trying to get on an IT bus without exact change.

"I would make it impossible for the covetous and avaricious to utterly impoverish the poor. The rich can take care of themselves."
^@^