A couple months ago, we took a day trip out to the
Nueces River canyon. Daddy was going to dig for Indian artifacts while the kids and I played in the river and hiked around the property. As the kids and I were exploring, we happened upon this...
A baby squirrel that had fallen out of the nest. Is he not just the cutest little thing (ok, you might not think so, but I do)!
Listen closely. You can hear him snorting.
Not sure what to do, but pretty sure we would be playing animal rescuers, I went to get Daddy. Daddy picked him up, the squirrel immediately relaxed in the warmth of his hand, and at that point our hearts were in it.
So this is where he spent the rest of the day in the front seat of the Jeep, curled up in Daddy's hat and covered with a t-shirt for warmth. Alli and I decided "Tiny" was his name.
So we took Tiny home and made him a little nest in an old aquarium. I think he liked it. Then the research began- what would we do without the i
nternet to tell us how to take care of rescued baby squirrels?
A few weeks and countless number of puppy formula syringe feedings later, he was growing, his eyes had opened and he figured out how to escape. Thankfully, he wasn't interested in going far. This is how I found him when I walked out into the garage one day- just chilling.
Playing with the kids. He liked Alli just fine, but not so much
TJ. It was probably all the loudness and jumping around. He would kind of run and hide when
TJ came around.
Getting some practice time outside.
He wasn't sure about hanging out in the grass at first. He preferred to crawl up in our laps or even more preferably down our shirt or up our pants. And it was hard to get him out- those little claws are very clingy. When
Dwaine would set him on a tree, he would just hang on for dear life until his little body started shaking so
Dwaine would grab him... until one day he started running up the branch. Thankfully with a ladder we were able to get him back down (he was not ready for the wild yet).
One of the many syringe feedings...
Now Tiny is all grown up and living in the chicken coop out back eating nuts, sunflower seeds and fruit. He's plenty old enough to live in the wild now, but we thought it would be kind of cruel to release him right before winter. So for now, he seems to like his home. He doesn't so much like to be held anymore but will still take food out of our hands and let us pet him while he eats. Maybe next spring, he'll get to join the other squirrels running free in our backyard.
If we seem a little proud, it's because we are. We have rescued a handful of baby animals before and Dwaine has probably tried to rescue countless animals in his life, and none of them have ever made it into adulthood. We were sure to prep Alli with this sad fact when we first brought Tiny home, but thankfully she didn't have to see it firsthand.
Alli's class was in full-on Indian costumes while another class was dressed as pilgrims...
Little Fawn (aka Alli) waiting to say a prayer before eating.
She was so proud that her daddy was there (he was the only daddy in attendance). She told him about it the week prior saying "...and you can come too! Will you come daddy?"
Daddy didn't hesitate saying of course he would be there. It's not often that he gets to see these fun events.
