Baby squirrels

Last night we were sitting on the porch when one of the cats started going crazy, running from window to window.  We looked out and didn't see anything, but noticed that the the plastic sheets I'd laid out to kill weeds for future landscaping endeavors had been moved around by the storms a few nights before.  I went out to adjust it and was startled by a tiny little animal jumping around on the plastic.  It looked like a mouse with a fluffy tail and didn't seem at all scared by my presence.  He proceeded to scale the bricks and screens on the porch (much to the displeasure of Jake the cat) and then leaped from 15'+ high onto the ground.  Silly me- it was a baby squirrel!  He hopped around a bit, picked up a seed to nibble, and then curled up.

Of course I had to get a closer look, I didn't touch him at all- I always hear those stories of parent abandonment of baby animals after they've been handled by humans.  He was just sort of snuggling up in the grass with his seed, maybe hiding, but I'm not sure.  After a while he bounced up, drank some sitting water on the plastic sheets, scaled the huge tree a few feet away, and was gone.

An hour or so later I went back outside to check for any signs and now there was not one, but two baby squirrels curled in the same spot in the grass!  I'm not sure what was so attractive about the spot, and wonder if maybe the parent died.  They seemed old enough to survive on their own, as they were climbing, finding food, and drinking on their own.

The unfortunate thing about this is that we really don't want the squirrels around.  They're fine outside, but ours have been getting into the attic and scratching around.  Another time Mark pulled a sleeping bag out of a closet and a bunch of nuts fell out.  They're also probably not the most sanitary things- just a cute baby rodent.  So, we'll see what happens with these.  Maybe they will politely relocate across the street.