Flying Squirrel

A couple of days ago we pulled into the driveway and Zoe was nosing something around and licking it. It turned out to be a young squirrel (5-6 weeks) that fell out of a nest. The neighborhood girls all gathered around to look at it. It was still alive but the prognosis didn't seem good. Jessie (half-kidding) said, "Awww...just get a rock and put it out of its misery." Adlani picked up a big rock and prepared to follow orders. Screaming ensued and violence was quickly averted. Ben picked up the squirrel to put it in a KFC bucket and it started wiggling its legs. Much more screaming. The poor little thing didn't survive the night.

We have had quite the wildlife adventures lately - baby opossums scattered around the yard, a close encounter with a skunk, and a snake ("Snakey"), tiny toad ("Toady"), and strip of vinyl that Adlani is still convinced is some sort of snake ("Skinny") at camp. We also have a gigantic wasp nest in our tree. As long as all of the critters stay outside, I say "live and let live". Speaking of that...we found a larger toad in the garden a while back and I put it in a bowl on the kitchen floor. After the kids were done examining it I let it go outside but put the bowl back on the floor. A while later Ben noticed that the toad had jumped out of the bowl and gone missing. They're still looking for it! :)