Well actually it was four days. I was a bit concerned when I didn't see Spunky for two days in a row, and following that there were two days of bad weather. Here was how she looked when I had last seen her:
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| Spunky |
Beautiful! Spunky's black fur had recently turned auburn. I hadn't thought of her as being beautiful before-- she was the one with the cutest face and all the personality, but when it came to looks, well... she had not drawn those cards. She never grew very large, but was always small and skinny, even when pregnant and in the winter time. She also had a tendency to get infections. There was always something wrong until Bernie took her to the vet when she had a bad infection in her cheek. Dr. Pliny gave her an experimental time-released antibiotic that worked over a period of days, and she's been healthy ever since. She even grew a nice winter coat this year.
Anyway, back to this story: I was concerned about Spunky's whereabouts, so was relieved when she came by the other day. However, I saw what four days of apparently not much food had done to her:
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I know... I'm a mess.
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| Let's have a look. |
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| Slivered almonds? Not my favorite, but... |
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at this point I'll try anything...
(almonds were drenched in a Repcal:
calcium and vitamin D powder) |
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| Making up for lost time |
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| Ah... nothing like a peanut ! |
So in answer to those who complain about people feeding the squirrels, just take look at what happens when you don't. This time of year there are no nuts in the trees. The only fresh food available to them right now is tree bark, buds and grass, plus any leftovers they can forage from the ground . I did see a baby chewing on some tall grass, but older squirrels don't seem to eat it. I don't think they get enough protein from these foods.
I just found this picture of Spunky as a baby, taken in 2009.
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As you can see, Spunky has always been my bench buddy
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