The trees in my grandparents backyard each have a squirrel house. Once, during the spring, my grandpa found a baby squirrel underneath one of the houses, presumably kicked out because of his stubby tail.
"It's going to be OK. It's OK," my grandpa reassured him. The squirrel took it as a name instead.
O-K lived in a little cardboard home inside a wire cage for a week or two. Every time a human passed by, O-K --with he his face in the entrance--would jump out and snap back into his shelter.
As his health improved, and his tail grew, my grandpa introduced O-K back to the wild. He took O-K outside on his shoulder. The squirrel scurried around grandpa's arms and legs like they were branches.
Then he placed O-K's cage outside each morning and left the door open. O-K came at my grandpa's call for regular meals. At night he slept indoors.
One day he didn't come for bedtime. O-K still came to my grandpa when he called his name, and ate from his hand. But O-K got more and more wild; he'd linger as the other squirrels ran away.
Did I ever tell you that I worked with a woman at the University of Oklahoma who fed squirrels every day on her smoke breaks? My sister called her Snow White, because she would hold out pecans for the squirrels and they would come to her and eat them from her hand.
She was an amazing woman who founded an animal shelter and was a crazy wine drinker! We used to go listen to a band of crazy men called The Amazing Rhythm Chickens!
She died a few years ago, of lung cancer, five years after she quit smoking. Denese Miles...you are still loved!
Thank you for allowing a tribute to another squirrel lover.
3 comments:
The trees in my grandparents backyard each have a squirrel house. Once, during the spring, my grandpa found a baby squirrel underneath one of the houses, presumably kicked out because of his stubby tail.
"It's going to be OK. It's OK," my grandpa reassured him. The squirrel took it as a name instead.
O-K lived in a little cardboard home inside a wire cage for a week or two. Every time a human passed by, O-K --with he his face in the entrance--would jump out and snap back into his shelter.
As his health improved, and his tail grew, my grandpa introduced O-K back to the wild. He took O-K outside on his shoulder. The squirrel scurried around grandpa's arms and legs like they were branches.
Then he placed O-K's cage outside each morning and left the door open. O-K came at my grandpa's call for regular meals. At night he slept indoors.
One day he didn't come for bedtime. O-K still came to my grandpa when he called his name, and ate from his hand. But O-K got more and more wild; he'd linger as the other squirrels ran away.
Did I ever tell you that I worked with a woman at the University of Oklahoma who fed squirrels every day on her smoke breaks? My sister called her Snow White, because she would hold out pecans for the squirrels and they would come to her and eat them from her hand.
She was an amazing woman who founded an animal shelter and was a crazy wine drinker! We used to go listen to a band of crazy men called The Amazing Rhythm Chickens!
She died a few years ago, of lung cancer, five years after she quit smoking. Denese Miles...you are still loved!
Thank you for allowing a tribute to another squirrel lover.
i like squirrels. i like your boys even better. may i request a pic of them? yes, i'm bossy.
jill
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