Be Still My Heart

I'm in love. The object(s) of my affection? Two adorable, thoroughly confused, baby squirrels. I happened upon one of them on Friday evening, and again this morning, but this time with a sibling. Let me just say, that at first, the word RABIES was definitely flashing in my mind. Most startling was that they don't take off running when we're near them--in fact, these little guys have actually approached me & Steven several times. Additionally, they're clumsy. God, they're clumsy. But after watching them out the window for a few hours now, I've decided that they're basically the squirrel equivalent of kittens, when they just get old enough to start playing & tumbling & falling all over the place. They even pile up on eachother when sleeping, which happens every half hour or so. In other words, these guys are young, inexperienced, and extremely vulnerable. So far they've managed to fly under the radar of both the neighborhood cats & the neighborhood children. But considering the way they just chill in low branches (we're talking about 5 feet off the ground), don't run away when startled, and lie around in a pile of mulch next to our side fence, I have to say I'm concerned that survival of the fittest is not going to work out favorably for these two.

And to combat that, Steven and I are giving them a little help. First, I put out water for them. And we gave them some peanuts (not interested). I offered them some banana, but that also failed to excite them. Then Steven noticed them picking up some old dried up cherries from the cherry trees they're cavorting in, and he came up with THE prize: Craisins. He tossed them a few, and they immediately went nuts, frantically foraging for them, wrestling eachother for them, and downright pigging out.

Noshing on some Craisins:
Wrestling over Craisins:
Washing it down with some water:
Relaxing by the fence:
Aren't they adorable? Hopefully they'll be okay these next few days/weeks, while they grow and perfect their tree climbing skills. We'll be keeping an eye on them, for sure.