Today, I have read several blog posts. They were beautiful posts, one of remembrance of 9/11, one on temptation and one on being overwhelmed, poetry woven into words, framed by art. I felt uplifted, lightened and emotional…
and remarkably shallow because today I came to post about…
a *squirrel*.
The Story:
It was my birthday, we were finishing up dinner. I was holding a glass of wine and enjoying the fact that I’m one year older and wiser. We heard noises in the back yard- my parents dog Turk and Bear. Going outside Ben noticed they were gathered around the tree and there, just barely above where they could reach, was a baby squirrel.
Cute right?
What? You’d have just walked away? Umm… yeah me too.
Instead, Ben reached out, grabbed it and…
… it’s still with us now 4 days later.
Doing research, we discovered it was around 6 weeks old and that it’s nest was most likely raided by a predator and the mother abandoned it. We looked through our yard for other baby squirrels, BIGGER “Mommy” looking squirrels and as pesky and present as they always seem to be NO SQUIRREL COULD BE FOUND ANYWHERE. Silence.
We even tried to let it go. Putting it on a tree we walked away and it started shaking so bad we went back over and it desperately crawled to Ben. I think it thinks Ben is it’s mother?!
I know. Cue the round of “ahhhh’s”.
We contacted a wild life officer and either had to drive over a hour to drop him off or contact someone local. That local person hasn’t returned our calls yet…
So he got hungry and kept trying to nurse on our hands. It was cute at first but being as he was a wild squirrel, (and despite what Google said, I didn’t want to get bit,) we went to Petsmart to see if what they said lined up with what Google had told us on how to keep it alive until we figured out where to take it.
We walked into Petsmart and before we could ask-
“AHH, OH EM GEE, you have a *squirrel*??”
“Check this out- this guy has a squirrel!”
Strangers gathered and gawked.
I took the squirrel from Ben so *I* could get the attention. Helpfully I held the squirrel for Ben.
“ohh wow, can I pet him?”
Yes, plebeian, you may.
I felt so fancy with my squirrel.
It made me want to get a hairless cat or fancy schmancy concoction of dog breeding speciality so I’d get this special attention ALL the time.
In the end… we got the supplies and headed home. We opened our supplies and got started.
My kids never took a bottle so this was actually fun!
I mean- how cute?!
But… uhhhh… we don’t have time for a new fur baby. The kids and Ben love him- even though our new kitten-cat Moo seems to love him. … love him so much that it might turn into a meal?? (Perhaps) But really? We are city folks. We aren’t squirrel people.
So I turned to the most logical place to help me. FACEBOOK.
and it delivered. THANKYOU DOUG! He’s a friend of a friend of the family of a neighbor… (you know Arkansas “family”) and he’s had a squirrel before. Yep. This was his Christmas picture!
While I’m going to miss the little guy… I am so happy this has a happy ending! 
So, what was your weirdest pet you ever had growing up??
