Winter Solstice

Well here we are approaching the shortest and darkest day of the year: the Winter Solstice, which is on December 21st this year. We have been suffering in a deep freeze here in New York. All the squirrels have their fur coats now, except for some of the littlest ones, that I fear for. Even Spunky - a skinny little suirrel - finally got her coat!

Last night we had our first casualty: a big, beautiful black adult that seemed to have half her face frozen. Bernie caught her with his bare hands and carried her home under his jacket, got her warm and fed her. She then rested and seemed OK, but at about 3 o'clock in the morning she started moving about in her cage and shortly after that, she expired. RIP, big, black beauty.