Foster the Wonder Squirrel

There he is in all his resplendent glory. Have I told you about Foster? Of course I have.

Well, if I happened to have missed you - here goes.

I spotted this little squirrel a couple of days after Coco had died. He was running up the driveway and looked to be listing to one side. After watching him for a couple of days, I came to the realization that there was something definitely wrong with him. His entire left side didn't seem to work properly. Vic named him Foster, after Foster Brooks, because he looked like he was drunk. Seriously. As soon as the name was across his lips, Vic insisted that he would not get attached to this thing that was almost certainly going to end up as roadkill. Of course, I had taken to this poor little guy immediately.

He was hanging out in our yard to get the bird seed. He'd amble in from across the street or through the neighbor's yard, have a little nibble and then move to our back yard. I started leaving seed on the ground for him, but soon the other squirrels would chase him away, and he'd get nothing. He then started hanging around on the roof of our garage at the very peak. He'd wait & watch for me to put the seed out, make his way down and get some dinner! He has continued this and is there almost every day. Sometimes he's even waits on the deck. In all of my Foster gazing (taking on National Geographic proportions), I've come to realize he is kind of blind in his left eye and has serious problems with both left legs.

I'm on a mission to get a video of him running, just because it is so spectacularly goofy.

The birds have long been forgotten and all the seed goes to the squirrel. I did have to alter the amount I've put out, because one week the little guy didn't finish all the seed and there was quite a bit left over. Later that night, two skunks came into the yard & found the seed and proceeded to screech and fight each other, spraying away, into the wee hours of the morning. This happened on two consecutive nights. There is still a lingering oder of skunk in our basement.

I worried about him while we were in Maine for a week. I really couldn't make myself ask someone to come over during the week, wait to see a squirrel on the garage roof and parcel out a precise amount of seed. People would think I was a little nutty (or nuttier than they already suspect). He did manage to survive the week without me, but he did look much skinnier to me. ;o)

Four months later and he's still alive. He's made it safely back and forth through the driveway. His witnessed mishaps are just hysterical. He fell out of the tree in the back yard one day. Another time, while being chased by one of the neighborhood cats (such an indignity!), he ran smack-dab into a bag of fertilizer. What a thud! And just yesterday, he turned up in the morning with an enormous piece of PIZZA!!! He carried it into the yard and then promptly toppled over with the pizza landing on top of him. He spazzed & squirmed & finally ran off, kind of. He was back later that night for his seed - I'm sure one of the other squirrels lifted the pizza.

So, if I've been ignoring you lately, seem distant or distracted, at least you know why.