This summer has already been very full and wonderful. But to make things even sweeter and even more memorable, we had baby squirrels for three days and to be honest, I wish we still had them. I miss them.
Long story short, we cut down a dying mountain ash tree in our front yard. It was in rough shape. We didn't know that it housed a squirrel nest and that we would render two baby squirrels homeless. I would've waited to cut down the tree! We tried to return them to their distressed momma a few times, but the neighborhood cats were quite interested in eating them.
We cared for them for three days. We fed them pedialyte and puppy formula with an eye dropper and syringes. We kept them warm with a heating pad and a hot water bottle and each one of us totally fell in love with those little rodents including animal neutral (often disliker) me. In the end we took them to a licensed rehabber. She told us that we had done a good job and if I had realized that I would've kept them another week! But I was losing sleep worrying about them. I couldn't stand the idea of us taking improper care of them and them dying. I know, I know. Circle of life. But not on my watch! We're hoping to go visit them in Northeast Washington in a couple weeks. It's crazy how quick they'll grow!
Here's a whole bunch of pictures! The boy was named, "Nappy" and the girl we called, "Squeaker." They were darling. My favorite was seeing the way they cuddled up to each other and in the folds of the fabric. I also loved that they started to root around on our hands when it was time to feed them. I liked how they'd lay on their backs all warm and cozy and milk drunk after we fed them. They were so sweet. Good thing we have a human baby coming soon. But if there were ever a time we'd get a puppy, this past weekend was it!
I'll be buying a squirrel ornament for Christmas this week and I ordered squirrel fabric to make a dress for Holly. We have squirrel fever!
