That's so weird...or The Squirrel Story

I pondered posting this story last week under the title of, Thankful Thursday: Rakes Left Out in a Handy Place. But I decided this one was just too weird to post on TT. In fact, I decided I needed a little time to recoup from this one before writing about it, because I have to admit, it is one of the weirdest things I've ever experienced....and I still feel a little skittish about squirrels.

It happened last Thursday night that our whole family was walking home from a school program that my older two children participated in. (It was really cute by the way...Sophie danced so sweetly and Sam rocked out to the beat standing up on the risers...he was hilarious. I can't wait to get him on the drums :) Anyway, Sam, Sophie, Sarah and myself were walking down the sidewalk, nearly home. Luke (who had the keys in his pocket) and Ruby were lagging behind a couple houses back.

We came upon a neighbor walking his dog...a large dog. As we went to pass, a squirrel came out of nowhere right up to the dog. Normally you would think a dog would start barking and going after the little critter, but that did not happen. The dog backed off, nervously. At first we all kind of laughed, commenting on how we had never seen such a bold squirrel. Then the neighbor, getting nervous about this confrontation between dog and tree-rodent, took off for home. This is when the craziness started. Luke told me later that our neighbor had passed him and said something like, "I've never seen a dog so afraid of a girl" It wasn't until after this weird incident happened that he realized the man had said "squirrel" not "girl."

As our neighbor moved down the street, Luke was still far behind and had no idea what was going on. I shuffled the kids on to the front deck to wait for Luke to unlock the door. The squirrel followed us, jumped on the lattice work and started up the deck. At this point, we were all getting pretty freaked out. We made a break for the back yard. The squirrel chased us all the way back!! Okay, this is really weird, I thought. Since the doors were LOCKED and the keys were in LUKE'S POCKET and he had NO IDEA what was going on, I told the kids to climb up on the swing set platform and grabbed the aforementioned Handy-Rake to fend off this crazy squirrel.
Seriously, picture it....the squirrel is repeatedly coming after me, growling (yes, growling), and trying to get up to the kids, the kids are crying and yelling, I'm fending the critter off with a rake, flipping it into the air a couple of times, trying to retain my composure and comfort the kids. It was insane. My husband, by the way is inside, thinking we had gone out back to play for a while...he did not hear me calling...I was trying not to get the kids too worked up. Finally he comes to the back door to let our little dog out. I'm standing there with the rake, yelling "Get Oliver inside!!!" The kids are crying. The squirrel is attacking. At first Luke thinks I'm making a bigger deal out of the whole thing than necessary, then after a moment's reflection, he realizes...this squirrel is NUTS! (lol) He got the dog in and ran down to the rescue. While Luke took over Handy-Rake duties, I picked up each of the kids separately, running them into the house. When I went to take Sarah, the squirrel was under the back deck stairs, so I made a break for the front door...It took out CHASING us all the way! I put Sarah in and ran back...still chased by the squirrel! I'm thinking of course, "Rabid Squirrel!!!." Finally, we all got in.

We waited a while and Luke took Ollie out to piddle...Rake in hand. Animal Control was closed so I called them the next day and tried to explain this scenario. All I got was,
"That was a mother squirrel. She must have a nest nearby."
I tried again to emphasis the beyond-normal aggressiveness of this squirrel. Nothing...she was entirely unalarmed, uninterested.
"That's what mother's do," she said flatly.
"Ookay, thanks, bye."
Haven't seen the squirrel since...well at least, if we have it was much better behaved. Maybe it was just a really, really, really over-protective mother. We've all met one. I don't know...I'm just sayin'.

All I could think was, "RABIES!!"

It was weird...it was really weird.