A Squirrel in the Family

29 May '06 11:15 am

Well, I have a good aquaintance living in Scotland across the way there and she sent me some fotos that she got from someone she knows. This squirrel was found in someone's garden and brought to this woman for care.
I found these so cute that I wanted to share them with you.

29 May '06 2:15 pm

Sjoerd
Thankyou so much for sharing these lovely pics with us.
I just love the ones taken cuddled up with the puppies.
Wonder what will happen when the squirrel gets older will it think it is a puppy too Laughing

29 May '06 7:01 pm

What a special incident! My wife and I are just taken with those pix. We were talking just tonight about how nice it would be to have a squirrel around here.

I like squirrels, but don't they cause trouble in a garden stealing and eating bulbs and plants?

Anyway, we love those pix.

Christopher

29 May '06 9:19 pm

Thank you ---again! --- our dear Sjoerd , for sharing with us scenes of such tenderness and affection!! Thank you so much!

29 May '06 11:24 pm

Thanks folks... I thought they were extraordinary too.

I think these fotos touched me particularly because when I was 11 I also found a scrawney baby squirrel whilst walking in the woods--he was even younger than this one. It's eyes were glazed and he was acting kind of dopey...I think that he had been abandoned for quite a while. Flies had laid eggs on his back and along his tail; my parents and grandparents said tthat I could keep it because he would die anyway. My grandparents had a farm and when I got home I cleaned it of all the paracitic eggs and began feeding it fresh cow's melk with an eye dropper. I called him "Pierre", my folks said because I had apparently said that he "looked like a French squirrel". Chuckle, the things that children come up with!

My grandparents were so tolerant of this little adventure of mine. However my folks and they were one with the philosophy that if I was to keep Pierre, then I would have to do everything for it, myself- So, after two days, I built him a cage from odd pieces of wood that I found stored on the farm and my folks bought me some screening. I made a cage with tiny door at one end to feed him through. Oh yes! and I put a branch in there for him to hop around on, with a small hay-filled box at one end. My vacation days were filled with such wonder and happiness with Pierre. I handled him alot and talked to him incessantly. I took the little thing with me in my inner coat pocket when I would go out or to the henhouse to gather the eggs from under the hens.....(whispering now... and even to church once! - I never told my folks) Heh heh. Little Pierre and I got to be good friends that fall and he would even come to me when I made a little sound. The one thing he didn't like was when I had to trim his nails. His nails would hang-up in the upholstery of the chairs and sofa though, so it had to be done. He was not a dumb animal though, for he soon twigged that he could travel from room to room by going on the floor along the outter edge of the carpets on the bare wood.

When the vacation was over I had to leave my little friend with my grandparents and as you can imagine was heartbroken. I was sort of a stoic child and didn't often whine or cry but my eyes were filled with tears as we left the farm to come home. I sat with my knees on the back seat of the old car, with my chin on my folded arms looking out the back window at the farmhouse which got ever smaller as we drove away...I watched until we rounded the bend and could see no more, then completely broke down.

My grand parents told me later in a letter that in the spring my grandfather had taken Pierre to some woods far away from the farm and let him go. Telling me that wild squirrels weren't ment to be held in captivity and the longer we kept him the less able Pierre would be able to fend for himself once he was let go.

I sort of chuckle now at that tender moment in my young life. I can still remember the loss, but I can also, now that I am an adult recall the keen interest that I had in the squirrel and wildlife in general. From that fall onwards I have always had a very strong interest and feeling for "wild " things, be it plant or animal. I believe that it was that experience that formed my deep appreciation and love of plants and animals that I have had throughout my life and to this day.

[/b]

29 May '06 11:25 pm

G-Gnome- Yes squirrels might damage one's garden to a degree, but not too much, I don't think, they are more harmful to farm crops than dainty flowers, I suppose. I have never heard of folks complaining of about them. I have seen them in other countries and they are do interesting to watch.

Liza- You are most welcome. I can't imagine anyone that wouldn't smile at these piccies. They are nice and very unusual. I think the Papillion was feeling very motherly at the time, don't you?

Goose- Yes, I wonder what will happen when the squirrel gets older too... I hope he doesn't find it all too much and go "barking" mad. Wink

30 May '06 10:05 pm

Ahhhhhhh3 is absolutely priceless! Wink

A Squirrel in the Family

A Squirrel in the Family

Oh so so cute

WOW!