Animal Adventures

Considering we live in a city/suburb, we have had some adventures with animals this weekend, luckily they were both outdoors.

A biker prodding trying to prod the turtle along with a stick.  The turtle
withdrew his head and hid.

The first one was on the way to soccer in the town that I grew up in.  We were driving down a main street when we spotted a rather large turtle trying to cross the road.  Or rather, on his way across the road.  There were three or four people trying to assist him and help him to avoid getting crushed by a car.  We pulled over to take a look, knowing nothing about turtles, I couldn't really do much to help, other than keep the kids out of the way.  There was extensive conversation about how long his neck was, whether he could be picked up by his shell, tail, by biting onto a stick and dragged, nudged by a stick, etc.  Eventually the crowd grew and someone grabbed the poor thing by it's tail and ran it over to the edge of the stream and deposited him there.  Hopefully his day improved.  Needless to say, we were late for soccer, but it's not everyday you witness a turtle crossing a street in these parts.

Someone eventually pulls over and picks up the turtle by it's tail.

The second instance was at our house.  We had made some bird feeders last weekend at a friend's house.  I finally hung them outside a kitchen window yesterday.  Since the kids got a large bird feeder for Christmas, that has been primarily ravaged by squirrels, I thought we'd put this away from the porch  where the squirrels run along the banister to jump on the bird feeder.  I also put it a distance away from the large trees, to stop them from jumping from the branches on them.

Our bird feeders.

So this morning we were preparing to leave the house when there was a loud thud against the window, which caused Sam, Vivian, and I to jump about a mile in the air and me exclaim a bad word.  We turned to find a squirrel splayed across the window screen, like a starfish, holding on for dear life.  (Did I mention we live on the second floor?)  After about 30 seconds of scrambling, the squirrel gained it's footing on the small window ledge and started munching on the bird feeders.  The unfortunate part was there was no way for the little guy to get down.  Sam suggested we let him in for a visit.  I explained why this wasn't a good idea.  I consulted Chris who was in the shower.
Silence.  "I'll think about it.  Let me see when I get out."

The squirrel (as viewed from the inside), happily munching.

A little while later we were all contemplating the squirrel, Chris and I debating what to do, when the squirrel suddenly lost his little grip and disappeared from view.  We froze and listened, a second or two of paws scraping and then nothing.  Chris and I exchanged glances.
"What happened?" Sam exclaimed.
"The squirrel jumped back to the tree." Chris told him.
"Squiwel?" Vivian repeated.
"Big jump," we said.
"So can, you like take a look for it when we head out?" I asked Chris.

There was no sign of the squirrel when we left, Chris checked the bushes and plants.  Hopefully it wasn't too injured.  I'm guessing he fell onto the overhang over the tenants' window and then scrambled down the house somehow.

The children regarding the squirrel.

I'm kind of waiting from some kind of squirrel revenge or retribution, the tree that is usually bustling with squirrel activity has been strangely silent today...