Questions about squirrels and parking on leaves: Some of the web search terms that brought readers to us in 2021

Most of our readers come to us through email notifications when we post new articles (see “Subscribe to our blog” in the sidebar, or on mobile, scroll down), and through our monthly newsletter. Many also come to us after searching the web for questions about local places and policies. And if you are here because at one time you had a question about squirrel behavior… Well, you’re one of several.

Here are a few of the web searches that brought readers to Forest Hills Connection in 2021:

Some were searching for places long gone – such as Terasol and Soapstone Market. Or eagerly awaiting the appearance of a new business – such as Shemali’s Market.

Some search terms are seasonal: Take, for example, “unshoveled walk.” It’s a Forest Hills Connection pet peeve. Perhaps it’s this reader’s, too?

And we hope the person who searched “Can you park on top of a leaf pile?” found the answer, because it’s “no.” Absolutely not.

Civic-minded searches include “affordable housing in ward 3 dc” and “how to petition the city for sidewalks.”

Many readers found us while looking for information on historical figures. The person who landed on our site after searching for “Lady Bird Johnson” would have discovered that before she was First Lady, she was a Murch parent.

Thanks to Forest Hill Connection contributors Ann Kessler and Margery Elfin, the seeker who wondered “Where did Harry Truman live when vice president?” also found answers.

The urge to learn more about urban nature brings us many visitors, who mostly land on articles written by Marjorie Rachlin. Rachlin, who died last summer at age 99, had an insatiable curiosity about the world just outside our doors, and she delighted in sharing her discoveries. She would have approved of the seeker who wanted to know more about “fireflies in your yard,” and of the person who searched “communing with animals in the yard.”

And the most common search query driving traffic to foresthillsconnection.com… was “what do squirrels eat?” and variations on that theme. Here is where most of them landed.