Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Wishes....

If wishes were horse, beggars would ride...or so they say. Well, we spotted this caterpillar yesterday and I told Roger I was tempted to get a jar or something to put him in, but since I didn't know what he was...didn't know what to feed him, I didn't. And the fact is, I am not sure he was even hungry....he seemed to be on a hunt.
Finally late yesterday evening I googled 'bright green caterpillar', seen a photo that matched this one right away, and it led me to finding that it is a Polyphemus Moth...take a look at what he becomes. So I have been wishing I had captured it; but in ways I am glad I didn't cause I think it was on the hunt to find a place to spin its cocoon...so I might have really interfered with its life cycle.

*****************
Now, for something I cannot quite believe myself. I don't suppose any of you have noticed that I have not mentioned Mama Squirrel in quite a while. I have not seen her in at least two months....I really had given up on her still being alive. Or maybe not totally, because I sure have been looking for her....even if she had been in the cottonwoods across the street she is hard to see in them.

But with us being outside and talking almost everyday, it has been very odd for her to not come. Used to be I would set outside to talk on the phone, or just Roger and I sitting out back and we would look up and there she would be. So with him being outside working on the old garage almost every day, it was really starting to hit home that this time she was really gone.

Lo and behold, this afternoon a buddy of Roger's was over and we were sitting on the front porch talking, and I glanced towards the street and there ran a squirrel...I yelled, "Mama Squirrel, is that you?" never really expecting a reaction. It put on the brakes, stopped, and I think I yelled 'Mama' again and it gave me that look...

I ran inside to get nuts, and Roger kept talking to her...I came outside, all the time thinking it doesn't even look like her...it can't be her...but as I got closer I could see that it was her...I walked right up to her and bent down and gave her a nut, and then told her to come on and I went to the back...she followed along behind and I put her 'lunch' on Roger's trailer...and I got her a bowl of water. She used to all the time drink from Shelby's water dish out back so I though she might appreciate some fresh water.

Every time I think about it, I just cannot believe it was her...she is SO skinny...I have never seen her so little. She was/is almost skin and bones. I know summers have really bothered her the past two summers, but she never looked near like this.

But back to me yelling at her, Roger's friend is a new friend and has never seen her and even though I think we told him about her, I don't think it sunk in...most of Roger's buddies have either seen her or at least seen her pictures. But today when I yelled, I felt like his friend about jumped out of his skin....then proceeded to think we were both probably a little bit crazy. Now he didn't say anything, but I just got that feeling..till he seen her and her reaction.

And you know, I told Roger we should have known it was her...what other squirrel stops and looks at us when we yell 'Mama Squirrel!'

And I do wish I had a picture of her, but if you compared it to the others, you wouldn't believe it was her anyway.



10 comments:

  1. I'm glad she's still around! :)
    Happy News!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm too am glad she's still around. I would love to see you call for her and have her come. That would have been a neat capture with the caterpillar. I clicked on the link and that is a beautiful moth.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The caterpillar grows into a really pretty moth, doesn't it?

    Ah! So Mamma Squirrel is still out there! Too bad she is now so thin, but how nice you've gotten to see her and share a nut and water with her.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm glad Mama Squirrel is still around -- hopefully she will be back more often now.
    The caterpillar will become a beautiful moth, but it's probably a good thing you didn't try to keep it.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Fine caterpillar shots. Nice to see what this creature becomes. Glad Mama Squirrel showed up again.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I hope Mama Squirrel knows where to go from now on and doesn't stray again. She should just stick around. What a relief to see her, but to be so thin...makes you wonder.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Glad Mama Squirrel came back... You can feed her and fatten her up.... Poor thing.

    Pretty little green caterpillar... I love watching them.. Their life cycle is interesting.

    Hugs,
    Betsy

    ReplyDelete
  8. That is just so amazing! With all the squirrels that I have had here, none have been friendly enough to even let me open the door without running away. You really have a special relationship with Mama Squirrel! I hope she comes back and you can "feed her up". Leave her a dish of sunflower seeds...they seem to really like them :-)

    ReplyDelete
  9. I'm glad you finally saw Mama Squirrel again! I hope she can bulk up before winter. We haven't seen ours too much this summer, either, but I just put out bird seed and suet yesterday, so I imagine the squirrel will be around pretty soon.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Priceless!! Thanks for directing me here so I could read about Mama!!

    Long, long ago, I had a 'pet' squirrel that would eat from my hand. I named it Jim. But that was during my childhood years. So, I can certainly relate to this.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for visiting my blog...I hope you like it enough to take the time to comment. I enjoy comments so much, and always try to make a return visit.