Time Out for Onearm

As you now know, we experience a lot of joy with our wild family pet Onearm, the red squirrel who lost an arm. I wrote about her yesterday, marveling at her tenacity. Today I found myself irritated with the little darling.

I had followed my usual morning routine, sprinkling her breakfast sunflower seeds on the deck rail and watching her dine while protecting her vittles. Later, I was working at my computer in front of the living room windows, speaking to a Google representative on my cell phone that was clamped between my ear and shoulder. He was helping me resolve a blog domain name renewal problem I was having (I'm relieved the situation was resolved) and I had to stay focused on his instructions.

That's when I noticed her. Onearm was chewing my canvas swing! I had moved it from its hook to keep it from billowing in the gusty winds and laid it across one of the nearby rockers. She scampered from one end to the other, gnawing on sections of material as she went. I watch in dismay, but I figured I'd go take a look when I was done with Google.

I love my swing. It hangs in the corner of the porch year round, except when it's gusty and I move it to the rocker until the wind dies down. I sit in it often, daydreaming while I gaze at this view while swinging.

When my blog's domain issue was finally resolved, I went to take a look. I was shocked--she didn't just nibble--she tore the thing up! The entire canvas is riddled with holes and tears like these...

Of course, by the time I got out there she was long gone, though I'm quite sure no matter what I might have said, it would have meant zilch, zero, nada to her. I've put that swing on that rocker many-a-time and she's never chomped on it before...it made me wonder if she's working on building a nest. I put my swing back onto it's hook (wind or no wind, she won't have another opportunity to chow down on it) and gave her a towel of her very own. 

I don't know if she'll use it, but I did put a few seeds in it to make it more attractive (I'll let you know if she "takes the bait"). Only time will tell. Ah, what can I say, all in a day!

Thanks for reading my blog, you are the best f/f/r/s/f's, see you tomorrow,
Lise