As you can see by absence of posts, there hadn't been sufficient motivation to write anything until now.
But now a true story about one little girl squirrel's struggle to thrive has given me the "juice" to write!
Over a year ago, my friend Leticia brought me an orphaned baby squirrel found in a thunderstorm. She was cold, soaked to the bone, extremely dehydrated, and by the looks of her, not likely to survive until the next morning!
It took nearly an hour just to get her partially dry. She would only accept a few drops of formula and just wanted to sleep. I wrapped her in warm blankets and placed her in a wicker basket complete with a heating pad. I gave her lots of Reiki healing and said goodnight.
So the next morning, I pulled back the covers and to my utter astonishment, this little squirrel popped her head up as if to say,
"Where am I?"
At that moment, I knew exactly what to name her... Grace!
For it was only because of amazing grace that she was still alive.
The following year was quite a challenge as Gracie didn't seem to eat like the other squirrels. She was very picky and seemed to only want certain fruits and an occasional acorn.
She would go thru phases.... there was the persimmon phase.... and then the blueberry phase and the rambutan phase. The acorns she would accept had to come from one particular tree... all others were refused. Needless to say, it was quite difficult to keep her healthy. She was not able to maintain her body heat and so would always sleep on a heating pad. She lost much of her hair on her face and down the midline of her back. She would sleep most of the time, only rousing to eat some fruit. Occasionally she would attempt eating a pecan, but lost interest mid bite. She didn't drink from a water bottle although there were 3 available sources of water. I would juice fresh watermelon for her which she drank via syringe. And on and on it went... each day seemed like a miracle that she was still alive! She had not grown at all and I began to think she was either a "dwarf" or just plain deficient in certain hormones vital for growth.
Then a friend suggested I try feeding her scrambled egg.
What? I was counseled by a rehabber years ago NEVER to feed a squirrel egg as that could make them sick. When I inquired online, I discovered that squirrels in the wild will sometimes eat birds' eggs in nests! Really? So maybe it would be safe to try it on Gracie!
So I looked in the fridge and grabbed one of Pete & Gerry's organic eggs from the package and scrambled it.
Little Gracie went for it like no other food. I was shocked. From that day on, I would give her one egg per day. In a couple of weeks, she started looking better. She had more energy! Some new hair was coming in! She was warm to touch and chose to sleep away from her heating pad! OMG! My little miracle girl!
Then the Coronavirus hit the world. And suddenly my source of Pete & Gerry's eggs dried up. I tried a couple of other brands, but Princess Gracie wouldn't eat them. I even tried some duck eggs. YIKES. Neither Gracie nor I could stomach their smell! I checked every grocery store in Austin. No one was getting deliveries carrying Pete & Gerry's eggs.
Then one eggless morning, I was having coffee with Bonzo and he said, "Why don't you ask Pete & Gerry to send you some of their eggs?" And I thought, sure... why not? It's worth a try. So I called and got their email address and proceeded to explain Gracie's situation in an email. In their first response, they expressed their happiness at hearing of Gracie's return to health and promised that they are working hard to get those eggs to our stores ASAP but that they don't send directly to consumers. They would, however send me some coupons toward my next purchase if I sent them my home address. So I gave them my address and the cutest photos of Gracie I could find.
About an hour later, they sent another email. It read:
"Hi Julie! We have amazing news! I've shared Gracie's story with a few more people on my team and we've managed to pull a few strings - we will be shipping a one-time gift of a few Pete and Gerry's eggs your way tomorrow to help Gracie stay healthy and strong during these challenging times. These will be shipped overnight, so be on the lookout within the next 48 hours for those eggs to arrive.
Thank you again for sharing your and Gracie's story with us. She has been a highlight of our week, and in these unusual times we certainly welcome having something to smile at. We're so happy we can send you a few eggs to help with Gracie's recovery, and please don't hesitate to reach out if we can do anything else for you!"
Wow! I was in tears. It just proved to me the ultimate
and extraordinary power of SQUIRRELOVE!!
The eggs indeed arrived on my doorstep
refrigerated and intact. They had sent 4 dozen
eggs to get Gracie through these difficult times!
I wrote and thanked them for their generous hearts and
sent a photo of the princess enjoying her eggs!
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| Gracie enjoying her own stash of Pete & Gerry's organic eggs. |
They responded: We're so happy our eggs made their way to you safely! Our entire team has been over the moon at the opportunity to help Gracie stay the course in her growth and development while the grocery stores are a little unpredictable. Thank you for reaching out to us and giving us the chance to help Gracie!
Thank you Pete & Gerry's for making this miracle happen!
And overwhelming gratitude for my beloved Bonzo who suggested that I ask them in the first place!!
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| Bonzo man offering me advice. |