Hello Charlie, Goodbye Charlie

And so, the saga of Charlie the squirrel continues; and ends. I fed and watered him and come the next morning, he was still sitting on my back porch waiting for me to come out to feed him. Anytime the dog and I would walk outside, there he was running up to greet us. After people had read about the squirrel, they started to drop by to see him. Especially concerned about him was my nephew, Logan. He came over as soon as he found out and wanted to see him.. I took them out back and Logan was, at first timid around around the squirrel. I told him he didn't need to be as I stepped down the steps right next to him and knelt down to rub his head and back. The squirrel was just sitting there letting me rub him. As soon as Logan saw that, he knelt right down and scooped up the squirrel in his hand. Even after two days with it, I still didn't feel comfortable enough to pick him up, but when Logan did, he just sat right there in his hand. All the pictures tonight are Logan with "Charlie." I was originally going to name him "Earl the Squirrel" but, as always, everyone hated my idea and Logan said he was going to be called Charlie. So, Charlie, it is. Logan really bonded with Charlie. They played for close to an hour.

They had to leave for a previous engagement, but I figured I'd see them later. And, after they were done, Logan and Brother-in-Law, Dale, (yes, my sister's husband's name is Dale) came over to check out Charlie. We all watched Logan with Charlie and started to wonder about Charlie. As I mentioned before, he has a bum foot. It was working much better on this day than it did the day before, but the two things got us wondering. Because he really trusted people and had a bad foot, was he being raised in some rehab place and was around humans already? Or, was he just a retarded squirrel that didn't have motor skills and didn't know better? No idea. But, watching Logan play him, it didn't matter. After they were done playing, the sun had gone down and it was getting chilly out. Logan had taken Charlie in his hand and started to rub an area of his back. Charlie curled up into a ball and had fallen asleep!! No kidding, he had a sleeping squirrel in his hand. Since it was getting cold, Logan couldn't stand the thought of just putting him on the cool ground, so we went in, got a box, cut a hole out for him to get in and out, Logan loaded it with grass and put him in there for the night, right by the bottom step where I had his food and a water bowl set out. We all went in for the night.


The next day, today, I stayed home with a sick baby. So, when I got time, we went outside to check on Charlie. He was no where to be found. We looked all over the yard, in the box, under the porch and he wasn't anywhere. Even the dog couldn't sniff him out. All throughout the day, each time I let the dog out, we went out looking for him to no avail. Logan even came by after school to check on him and I had to tell him he had bugged out. Of course, he had to check for himself, so he searched everywhere and Charlie wasn't around. Logan and his Dad had decided that if Charlie was still here, they were going to keep him and take him up to the Animal Rehab place in Atlanta. Very nice thought, but there was no need. I guess we gave Charlie enough food, water and attention to where he felt better and decided to go off and be a squirrel. Maybe we did some good. I just hope he doesn't come back to chew on my water pipes like his elders have done in the past.

Tiny Baby is doing better. We found out why she was running a fever. We have a tooth!! We just noticed it yesterday. This whole time, we thought she was teething, but never felt anything. Some babies will run a fever when they are teething. Then, while my sister was over here, she was playing with her and as she put her head down, Ansley opened her mouth and we saw her first tooth is on the top and not the bottom like most babies have. That's why we never felt it. So, we have our first tooth.

We also want to wish my Sister good luck this week. She has her first, of two, major surgeries this week. Wednesday to be exact. So, good luck and we'll be around if y'all need anything.

Squirrel

I don't normally make two posts in one day, but I had to pass this along. This morning I let my dog, Ripley, out for his morning duty. After a few minutes of him being out there, he was barking up a storm. He normally doesn't bark at much except when the kids next door are in the back yard or the other neighbor's dog is in their backyard. Since it was 9:00 in the morning, I knew it was too early for either of them to be happening, so I knew something else was up. I walked out on the back porch and saw him just going off at something up against the house. As I looked closer, it was a baby squirrel. At first, I did what I always do when there is a squirrel, I told him to "Get Him!" He just started barking louder, but doing nothing but dancing around the squirrel. Then I remembered it was only 9:00 in the morning, so I went down to get him to stop barking. As I got closer, I noticed the squirrel had a bum front paw and couldn't move as easy as he normally could, so I called the dog off. When I called Ripley off, he just started sniffing the squirrel and just being interested in it. I ran in, got the camera and snapped a few shots. After a bit, I came in and got a carrot slice. I took it out, broke it into small pieces and gave it to the squirrel. He started nibbling on one and the dog was being nice, so I decided to come in and show Heather the pictures. After that, I went back outside and the dog wasn't being so nice anymore. He was trying to smell the squirrel, but as he was doing it, he was picking it up and rolling it over with his nose and if it would move, he would paw at it to move it. So, I had to protect the squirrel from Ripley since it was so small and hurt already. I got Ripley in the house and went out to check on the squirrel. He was headed under the porch, so I threw the pieces of carrot under there and hoped he would eat. I figured that would be the end of it. Not so.. The next time I let Ripley out for a bathroom break, I went out with him just to be sure. Sure enough the squirrel was still out there and was already trusting of me. He ran straight towards me and jumped on my shoe. Ripley was occupied and didn't see him for awhile, but it didn't take too long and he was over there trying to sniff him again. Once I got him off my shoe, I gave him some peanuts, raisins and carrot pieces on the step of the porch. I left him there and we went inside. As I looked out the door, the squirrel was following us up the stairs (his foot was doing better, I guess) and he came right up to the door and looked in. Sorry, as cute as he is, I can't have a rodent in my house. A few hours went by and we went back outside. The squirrel was lazing in the sun and looked hot. I went in and got him a bowl of water and brought it out. He went straight through the bowl to get to me. After I settled him down, I took the bowl and tilted it towards him. After he realized what it was, he started drinking the water. He was a thirsty booger. After then, he started chasing my shoes again.. So, I got him to chase me to the only tree we have in the backyard; a huge pecan tree. He actually followed my shoe all the way into the tree. (I took it off and stepped it with my hand in it).. But, as soon as he got up there, he started back down.. We started running towards the house and he followed about half way. We went in and he stayed in the general area of the water bowl the rest of the afternoon. When the sun started to go down, I wanted to try one more time to get him into the tree. There is a nest in the lower portion and I figured he could stay warm in it, if I could get him there. As he followed me again, I let him get back on my shoe. As he sat on my shoe, I took it off and held it up in the portion of the tree I wanted him in. After a few minutes of trying to get him off my shoe, he finally stepped off into the tree. He tried to come back down, so I ran around the other side and tapped on the tree calling him. He came through the middle and saw me. As he started down that side I ran to the other side..I got in the middle and stayed. I ran back to the house and went in. I watched for a bit, but I never saw him come in the yard again. I went back out just as the sun was going behind the horizon and didn't see him in the yard or in the tree. I did see another squirrel in the tree, so maybe his own kind came to help, or maybe he's under the house. But, I guess I'll look for him again tomorrow. Tiny Baby is sick with a fever and I'm going to stay home with her tomorrow, so we'll see if the squirrel is still around.