yesterday afternoon i was busily bustling around doing all manner of things. i was happy because i’d heard kevin take les paul out for a walk in the backyard. the responsibility of walking this very busy kitty needs to be evenly distributed.
mollie was out there with them, and all of a sudden i heard kevin burst into the house and yell something like GRACE I NEED YOUR HELP GETTING THE KITTY…and then something about a squirrel. i was afraid there might be a rabid squirrel, i don’t know why, maybe because in the past we’ve had sick raccoons staggering around the yard.
i ran out just as kevin was scooping up lester. after he and mollie were safely inside, kevin showed me…there were two of the most adorable baby squirrels ever, scampering all around, up the tree and around. kevin said that les had seen them and made a beeline for them, and when he got to the end of his leash he squirmed out of it and raced over, jumping on one of the squirrels. kevin quickly got him away, and managed somehow to hold mollie back, and the squirrels resumed scampering.
i ran inside to get them some bird food and when i came back kevin said i missed it – they ran halfway up his jeans, looking for food! or maybe they thought kevin was their mother.
they must have had a home up in a hollow in the tree, or kevin also saw a squirrel nest way up in the top. he kept flinging the bird seed up in a crook of the tree, and the squirrels eventually found it.
mollie was inside the fence and at one point one of the babies scurried right over to her, as if maybe mollie was its mom. kevin yelled at mollie a lot to get her to back off, because she was, of course, hysterical with excitement. kevin kept her closed in the house after that.
here’s the place where les got ahold of one of the babies. it didn’t look bad, though.
we finally went back inside, but kevin kept going out to check on them. one of them was in the fenced yard and when kevin came out, the baby ran up to kevin and looked up at him, so kevin picked him up. he said it was shivering and really cold, and he wanted to bring it in the garage overnight so it wouldn’t freeze.
OH MY GOD it was so cute…
we fixed up a tub with a flannel sheet, bird food and water, and the baby nestled down. kevin said it was really tired when i wondered why it wasn’t moving around more.
the tale doesn’t have a happy ending, i’m afraid…this morning the little guy wasn’t moving much, and kevin thought he was dead, but when he picked him up, he was still breathing. he tried to feed him some milk, but he didn’t seem interested. i don’t think he’s going to last much longer.
did les really puncture him? maybe he was sick already? he was just such an adorable, happy little baby yesterday afternoon. at least his brother must have found his way back home.
this morning as i was sitting in the hot tub room petting new kitty, a squirrel was sitting in the crook of the tree chattering. i’m sure she was looking for her missing baby.
ok then,
mrs. sad sunday morning hughes.