THE CHIPPER LORE: THE WOOD PILE RESCUE AND THE EIGHT GENERATIONS

In September of 2022, our daughter Catrina came home from work and found a baby squirrel curled up at the base of our big pine tree. She came inside and told Janyce there was a baby squirrel laying in the grass, and she was pretty sure it was dead. Janyce went out to check, and sure enough, the little guy was still breathing. We knew better than to interfere right away, so Janyce left him there to see if the mother was coming back.

When I got home from work a couple of hours later, he was still sitting at the bottom of the tree. I checked online and read that sometimes mothers move their babies to a new nest, so we waited until dusk. When the sun went down and the mother still hadn't shown up, we made the call. We brought him inside.

We found a cardboard box, laid down a fleece blanket, and I picked him up to warm him in my hand. Almost immediately, he started nuzzling my palm like he was trying to nurse. We checked the internet again and found out we could use puppy milk. Janyce immediately jumped in the car, ran to the pet store, and bought a can of puppy formula and a bag of rodent food. We warmed the milk up, but he was stubborn and wouldn't take it at first. About an hour later, he started getting restless. We tried again, and this time he eagerly scarfed down two full syringes of milk—and promptly peed right in my hand. We took that as a very good sign.

We put him in his box for the night, and our dog, Rufus, took over. Rufus stood guard over that box and woke us up every two hours on the dot whenever the squirrel started getting restless for food. By morning, we officially named him Chipper because the milk had him in pretty good spirits. We put some of the seed and dried fruit in his box, but he wasn't weaned yet. I handled a lot of the dropper feeding, and by day five, when he started trying to climb out of the box on his own, it was clear he had completely imprinted on me. Within a couple of days, his favorite place in the world was crawling into my robe while I was wearing it. He would snuggle into the sleeves, sleep in the pockets, and crawl up onto my shoulder to nibble on my hair.

About a week later, we started taking him out into the yard so he could run around and learn to climb the trees. But without fail, at mealtime, he would come right back to the back door and ask to come inside.

We dropper-fed him for a while longer until instinct took over and he decided to build a dray out back in our wood pile. I built him a little hutch right there in the logs and stocked it with seeds, fruit, and maple seeds from our yard. Chipper was a master builder; he stuffed that wood pile absolutely full of maple leaves and sticks, and he happily stayed right there for the entire winter.

Every morning, I would take my coffee out to the wood pile and bring a handful of nuts. Chipper would run right down the logs, scramble up and down my arms, and take the nuts directly from me. Almonds were his absolute favorite once he was fully weaned.

Two summers later, he had his first litter: twins. A girl named Silver and a boy named Copper. Because squirrels have litters in both the spring and the fall, Chipper's legacy exploded. Today, there are eight generations of his family living in our yard. We buy 40-pound bags of sunflower seeds and absolute tons of almonds. Now, every single morning, Janyce and I drink our coffee, feed the crowd, and laugh at the new babies jumping and flipping in the lawn.

Around here, we believe everything needs a little rescuing. And we love to rescue.

Keep Exploring

🪨 Adopt a Rescue: Chipper found his home in the wood pile, but our shop is full of rescued, one-of-a-kind stones waiting for theirs. Browse All Collections →

📖 Read the Logbook: The Universal Rescue doesn't stop at the wood pile. From blown motors to 58-pound Serpentine boulders, read the raw history behind the Rockhound Studio bench. Read the Logbook →

Handcrafted by Bob and Janyce — Inspired by Chipper 🐿️