Animals: I’m the Squirrel Lady

December 7, 2009

? I mentioned this before on this blog but I’m a squirrel lover. They are just too darned cute.

? This one that I’m blogging about today I’ve nicknamed Crooked because its head is on crooked. He even runs crooked due to this.

? I have a soft spot for misfits.

? He ran up Chris’s leg one day when he was sitting on our patio. He said hi and jumped down. Hilarious!

? I can feed this guy from my hand. He’s super sweet and gentle when he takes the food. It’s the only way I can ensure he’ll get the nuts b/c the other squirrels pick on him and beat him up if he tries to get food.

? I also root for the underdog and I can’t stand bullies.

? So with Crooked being a misfit, the underdog AND bullied I just love him to bits.

? You are all probably gaping at your screen but this isn’t abnormal for me. I grew up with this being “normal.” 🙂

? Growing up, Dad would always have random wild animals as outdoor pets. Sometimes because they just randomly friended him or because they were hurt and he was helping nurse them back to health. I remember having a baby skunk, snakes and a grackle at random times in my life. There’s also the incident that scared my mother half to death, when my Dad had me hold a baby opossum. She nearly fainted. I should mention that he grew up working for a vet’s office so he knew how to handle wild animals. He did have a special touch though and they always seemed to know he was a kindred spirit.

? Case in point, not long before my Dad died, he was sitting outside by the chimnea enjoying the fire. His eyesight wasn’t good due to the stroke he’d had. At this time we had an outdoor cat (Kitty who is now an indoor cat) so when this animal came and started winding around his legs, he assumed it was Kitty. He and her had a “tail pulling” game they’d play so he’d yank on her tail, the animal went back to winding and being pet etc. After about 10 minutes or so the animal came up and curled up at his feet. He then realized it was a skunk, not Kitty. I love this story for so many reasons but I think it’s a riot how the skunk kept coming back for more tail pulling and that my Dad innocently went about pulling a skunks tail.

? It’s Monday and I feel that today just called for squirrels.

? Please comment for cans for the hungry this holiday season!!!